Jimmy Cross In The Things They Carried

“I thought the Vietnam war was an utter, unmitigated disaster, so it was very hard for me to say anything good about it” (George McGovern). As said by George McGovern, the Vietnam War was a difficult war that was fought in Vietnam and caused many casualties and is thought to be a horrid war. The things that the American soldiers saw and experienced were unlike any other experiences. These experiences are shared in Tim O'Brien's book, The Things They Carry. Although many of these stories seem to be war stories at a first glance, they can actually be seen as love stories because of the emotional connection each character has with each other. First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is a good example of how the stories in The Things They Carried are love stories. Lieutenant Cross loved a girl named Martha and the chapter ¨Love¨ is based on his love for her. Jimmy Cross also has emotional ties to the soldiers in his squad. When one of his soldiers, Tim Lavender, takes a bullet in the head and dies the Lieutenant can't handle himself and takes full responsibility. ¨The lieutenant is in some deep hurt. I mean that crying jag - the way he was carrying on - it
The bond between them grew as they became close friends they helped each other get through the dreaded war and the harsh times that they had to experience. Curt Lemon stepped on a landmine and died, body parts flying into trees and everything. At the beginning of the chapter Kiley writes to Lemon’s sister. He writes about all of the good times they had and poured his heart out into the letter. “And then the letter gets very sad in serious. Rat pours his heart out. He says he loves the guy. He says the guy was his best friend in the world” (O’Brien 65). This chapter is all about the love between two soldiers and how they rely eachother to make it through the