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Jimmy Cross Character Analysis

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It’s the American Dream to obtain a balanced life: maintaining love, as well as a stable job. However, this is difficult to achieve as some come across the obstacle of needing to only choose one aspect. This same struggle is shown throughout the books The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, as well as Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel. In The Things They Carried, Jimmy Cross, being thrust in the position as a leader of his army, is hung up on his girlfriend thousands of miles away. This often distracts him of his dutiful responsibilities to his men. In the other novel, Nacha, at the age of 85, is the household cook in the La Garza family. She still longs for her fiancé, who was forced to leave the house. Jimmy Cross and Nacha are utilized in both books as a representation of the struggle and inner …show more content…

Because of this, he decides to burn all of Martha’s letters and photos in guilt; in the end, choosing his duty over his undying love. “He felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war“ (16). The short and concise sentence structure of the “He felt shame. He hated himself” sets a very frustrated and angry tone, similar to the feeling Jimmy Cross was feeling. Furthermore, the parallelism used in these sentences beginning with “he” emphasizes the hate and shame he felt towards his actions. The author utilized a simile when describing the utter sadness and guilt Jimmy Cross felt, saying that he was like carrying a stone in his stomach. He further emphasizes this by once again using the word “carry”, this time showing that he is carrying his feelings as a burden. This shows that after his fellow soldier, Ted Lavender died due to his fantasies of Martha, he realized his mistake and felt shame and

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