Preview

Lieutenant Jimmy Cross In The Things They Carried

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
264 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Lieutenant Jimmy Cross In The Things They Carried
A Character Analyzes on Lieutenant Jimmy Cross

Those who experience the Vietnam War were greatly impacted by it. In the story “The Things they Carried”, by Tim O’Brien, the author is able to share a first hand view of one soldiers experience and impact of the Vietnam War. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross undergoes many difficulties throughout the story. His main Conflict is being able to distinguish what portrays as a fantasy to present truth. By observing O’Brien’s style of writing, it is discovered that Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’s character appears to be very emotional and distracted by a girl named Martha but overcomes it by becoming a leader to help keep his men alive.
Throughout the story Lieutenant Cross experiences many obstacles and changes
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Secret Lives of Sgt John Wilson
    • 4616 Words
    • 13 Pages

    The Secret Lives of Sgt John Wilson

    John meets Polly. She was the type of person everyone gravitated towards and wanted to be around because she had such a sunny disposition and warm brown eyes that were trusting. After a year he began to court her and they fell in love. He eventually asked for her hand in marriage and they got married. Soon after the wedding, John and Polly moved into a house together and in May they had their first child, whom they called George. Alex Wilson was not a very determined or highly motivated person. He may work in his parents’ business but his laziness burned it to the ground. In order to salvage what he lost, he scammed various people for their money, including his own family. John took money out of his own business to help but things continued to get worse. He started stealing money from his brother-in-law, Jim Hutchison to pay back the creditors but his attempts were futile and rendered useless. The Wilson’s good reputation was ruined and John was humiliated. He wanted to let things die down for a while so he decided to go to Canada for a year. He told Polly it would be just enough time to let the townspeople forget about the scandal. John promised to write lots of letters and then he was off, leaving behind his 6-month pregnant wife. Saskatoon was where John chose to go. He was intrigued by this prairie city because it was “The Fastest Growing City in the World”. All it needed were more people. In Saskatoon, the trains never arrived on time but imagine the surprise on the citizens of Saskatoon’s faces when John’s train arrived on schedule. It was so surprising that it even made the news. John immediately got a job and found a place to stay in a rooming house. On every Sunday, he would write long letters to Polly and also send home quite a bit of money.…

    • 4616 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Literary Analysis: The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien
    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Literary Analysis: The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

    This prolific and award winning story by Tim O’Brien, focuses on the hardships faced by soldiers during the Vietnam War. O’Brien chronicles the lives of several soldiers as they battle through the jungles of the Vietnam. They story gives the readers the ability to go through the solders inability to accept the reality they are facing. The title of the story plays an important function in the story as throughout the story O’Brien makes mention of everything each soldier is carrying both physically and mentally.…

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    First Lieutenant Cross Analysis
    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages

    First Lieutenant Cross Analysis

    The story is told by an omniscient narrator focusing mainly on the character First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. Lieutenant Cross is in charge of a company of men who go on daily marches through Vietnam in search for the enemy, their sympathizers and supplies. He often daydreams of a college girl he is fond of back in New Jersey. Mitchell Sanders is the radio and telephone operator and known for being the ladies’ man. Kiowa is a Native American Baptist who carries an Illustrated New Testament with him. He also carries his grandfather’s old hunting hatchet given to him by his father and his grandmother’s distrust for the white man. Dan Jensen practices field hygiene by having with him a toothbrush, dental floss and bars of soap stolen from a hotel while on R&R. Henry Dobbins is a large man who carried extra rations and was excused from searching tunnels due to the size of his frame. He carries the M60, is especially fond of canned peaches, and wears his girlfriend's pantyhose around his neck as god luck. Rat Kiley is the medic, carrying a canvas satchel containing morphine, plasma, malaria pills and various medical supplies and comic books. Norman Bowker is a gentle guy, he keeps a diary with him and carries a thumb from a VC corpse that Mitchell Sanders had cut off and presented to him. Lee Strunk has a…

    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Jimmy Cross In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried
    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Jimmy Cross In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

    and off the battlefield. Beneficial to the Lieutenant, his meaningful affections for the junior college…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried
    • 1684 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

    Tim O’Brien is a very gifted author, but he is also a veteran of the Vietnam War and fought with the United States in that controversial war. Tim O’Brien was drafted into the Vietnam War in 1968. He served as an infantryman, and obtained the rank of sergeant and won a Purple Heart after being wounded by shrapnel. He was discharged from the Vietnam War in 1970. I believe that O’Brien’s own images and past experiences he encountered in the Vietnam War gave him inspiration to write the story “The Things They Carried.” O’Brien tells the story in third person narrative form about Lt. Jimmy Cross and his platoon of young American men in the Vietnam War. In “The Things They Carried” we can see differences and similarities between the characters…

    • 1684 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried: Chapter Analysis
    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried: Chapter Analysis

    “The Vietnam War was arguably the most traumatic experience for the United States in the twentieth century. That is indeed a grim distinction in a span that included two world wars, the assassinations of two presidents and the resignation of another, the Great Depression, the Cold War, racial unrest, and the drug and crime waves.”(Donald M. Goldstein) Tim O'Brien, the author of the book, The Things They Carried, goes into his memory to his time serving in The Vietnam War. It explains his experiences with his fellow teammates and everything they went through. Being a nonlinear book, it gives you an almost real experience to life while being a soldier in Vietnam. O`Briens intended audience was future generations and he discussed shame/guilt and morality/death.…

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Tim O'Brien
    • 1263 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Tim O'Brien

    A platoon of seventeen soldiers from America travel in booby-trap swamps and through the hills of Vietnam. “They been ordered to set ambushes, execute night patrols, and search out and destroy the massive tunnel complexes south of Chu Lai constructed by Viet Cong guerrillas” (McCarthy). On their voyage the men carry something with them; the things they carry have a meaning to each soldier which distinguishes them. The men are not completely prepared to deal with the stresses of war emotionally. The story circles around Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and the burden he feels for the death of Lavender, one of his soldiers. “The Things They Carried” reflects on each soldier and their way of trying to escape from the war. American writer Tim O’Brien had many outstanding works including “The Things They Carried”. This work illustrates O’Brien’s use of style,…

    • 1263 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Jimmy Cross Analysis
    • 980 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Jimmy Cross Analysis

    The short story "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien takes place in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. In this story we are introduced to First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and his platoon. They all differ in age and ethnicity, and have different views on the Vietnam War. One thing that they all have in common is that they bear the weight of their country on their back, but they also have different emotions weighing on their hearts at the same time. We see three different sides to Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, the soldier, the love stricken man and the leader that has learned a valuable lesson. Each of his characters carries something different.…

    • 980 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Steven G. Brandl's In The Line Of Duty
    • 628 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Steven G. Brandl's In The Line Of Duty

    In the Line of Duty by Steven G. Brandl is a descriptive analysis of police assaults and accidents. Mr. Brandl received a call from the president of the Milwaukee Police Association asking if he would be interested in conducting research on the workload demands of police officers working in Milwaukee and injuries to officers in Milwaukee.…

    • 628 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Lieutenant Carroll's Fallen Angels
    • 2407 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Lieutenant Carroll's Fallen Angels

    In the novel Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers, Lieutenant Carroll, the first leader the soldiers have in the novel, said, “’My father used to call soldiers angel warriors, because usually they get boys to fight wars. Most of you aren’t old enough to vote yet’” (44). The extremity of the youth of the soldiers was unbelievable. Through all they went through, one would assume that only grown men who have experienced the realities of the world were capable of handling the hardships in the Vietnam War. Lieutenant Carroll, ironically, was seen as the wise, older leader of the squad but he was only twenty-three year old. Today, a twenty-three year old is usually fresh out of college and still immature and ignorant to the true meaning of life. The…

    • 2407 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    What Is The Purpose Of The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien
    • 278 Words
    • 2 Pages

    What Is The Purpose Of The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

    In Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried, the author uses explicit details to illustrate what the experience was like for the American soldiers during the Vietnam War. O'Brien is a writer and Vietnam War veteran and in his novel, he delivers memories of his service in Vietnam and brings them to life. The Vietnam War began in 1955 and was a long, costly armed conflict against communism. A large majority of soldiers in the war served because of the draft. By 1968, the number of American soldiers in Vietnam surpassed half a million, and the conduct of the war had become exceedingly brutal. Many peopled opposed the war and protested against it. Young men were burning their draft cards or fleeing to Canada to avoid fighting in what they considered…

    • 278 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Jimmy Cross's Fight For Dominance
    • 715 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Jimmy Cross's Fight For Dominance

    Tim O'Brien tells a highly emotional story, “The Things They Carried,” in which he weaves two memories of First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross's life together. These two significant parts of Cross seem to be trying to compete to be the more dominant, one being of lovely Martha from back home who has captured Cross's heart and attention; she sent him letters that “were not love letters, but Lieutenant Cross was hoping” (1) for a sweet declaration of love. Cross's other life is that of the moment, where he is in the middle of the Vietnam War. The narrator describes his as well as seven other men's journey while they venture through this danger and of the things carried by each of the men “largely determined by necessity” (1). The symbolic letters from Martha are prominent throughout the entirety of Tim O'Brien's short story, however the connotation associated with these tokens does not remain consistent.…

    • 715 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Military Manhood In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried
    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Military Manhood In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

    Manhood in western societies is pre-programmed, pre-packaged and forced-fed to boys from birth to adulthood. Historically the puriest example of a real man was the military standard. Military manliness dictates that a man must be strong, both physically and mentally, a man must be unfeeling and must be loyal to their fellow commrades. Men must show a certain level of respect for women but never acknowledge them as equal.…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried
    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

    When one thinks of war, the general thought is that it inspires acts of patriotism and heroism. No one really looks deeper into the topic to find that along with patriotism and heroism there are often feelings of shame and loneliness. In The Things They Carried it is clear that most of the soldiers in the war do not come back with a sense of pride or honor. Most come back wishing they had never gone at all. Tim O'Brien reveals that because Vietnam precipitated such traumatic experiences, his storytelling is a great way to cope with his shame and loneliness, emphasizing that the war experience is not one of patriotism and heroism, but one of loneliness and guilt.…

    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Things They Carried Formalist Analysis/ Readers Responce
    • 1168 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Things They Carried Formalist Analysis/ Readers Responce

    The story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien is an enormously detailed fictional account of a wartime scenario in which jimmy Cross (the story’s main character) grows as a person, and the emotional and physical baggage of wartime are brought to light. The most obvious and prominent feature of O’Brien’s writing is a repetition of detail. O’brien also passively analyzes the effects of wartime on the underdeveloped psyche by giving the reader close up insight into common tribulations of war, but not in a necessarily expositorial sense.. He takes us into the minds of mere kids as they cope with the unbelievable and under-talked-about effects or rationalizing death, discomfort and loneliness as well as the themes of heroism, physical and mental pain, and a loss of innocence. Obrien achieves this through extended description, imagery and tone coupled with an intimate relationship with the stories main characters.…

    • 1168 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics