Eng 102 Section 0826
Prof. Luke Vasileiou
May 4,2010
Transformation of Jimmy Cross
In the story "The Things They Carried", an author - Tim O'Brien depicts a characterof Jimmy Cross, who by his daydreaming about a girl he left back home, lacking discipline and decisiveness, is responsible for death of one of his soldiers. With that, Jimmy is able to understand what his war duties are, and what he should be providing for his fellow men in battle in order to survive.
When we first meet his character, he is engrossed in his thoughts about Martha, who writes him letters filled with a friendly chatter, but elusive on the matter of love. Is she in love with him? Jimmy wants nothing more, but at the same time he knows that by the way she signs her correspondence, ending it with "Love, Martha" (p.392), it does not mean what he sometimes wants it to mean. For the better part of the story, those letters are everything to him. "In the late afternoon, after a day's march, he would dig his fox hole, wash his hans under a canteen, unwrap the letters, hold them with the tips of his fingers, and spend the last hour of light pretending" (p.392). I think that this particular line shows Jimmy's hopes and dreams about the relationship he thinks he has with Martha. He reads the letters at the end of the day, so he will have something that will make the horror of war seem less oppressive.
While at war, all soldiers carried personal items with them. Whether they were thing to ward off bad luck, like rabbit's foot or a severed thumb in case of Norman Bowker, or more practical items, like razor blades, tobacco orcandles, almost everyone carried photographs. Lieutenant Cross had two of Martha, of course. He looked at them, and tortured himself, wondering who took them, when, what was she feeling and thinking at the time. He hauled them with all of his other possessions through swamps and up the hills. He did the same with a pebble, whichhe received from her as a good-luck charm. Jimmy thought it was romantic, but couldn't help himself and wondered what her truest feelings for him were. At the time, I think Cros was slowly starting to realize that what Martha felt wasn't exactly the same sentiment he felt for her.
At the same time, Jimmy had to be a soldier and a leder of his platoon. On one oftheir missions, the team had to search and destroy tunnel complexes in the area of the Than Khe village. After one of the soldiers crawled out of the tunnel, done inspecting it, all the guys started cracking jokes and laughing loudly. That's when Ted Lavender was shot in the head. While it was Jimmy's responsibility to keep his men in check, enforce discipline and order, he did nothing. He was just relieved that his man came back alive. Besides that, he was thinking about Martha again. At the time when someone else's life was depending on his concentration and training, he was wondering if she was a virgin, if she was lonely. "He was just a kid at war, in love. He was twenty-four years old. He couldn't help it" (p. 397).
While Jimmy was trying to be the best leader for his group, it took a death of one of his soldiers and a friend to understand that because of his lack of discipline, he will have to live with the guilt forever.
Morning after Lavender's death, Jimmy burned Martha's letters. He realized he was being silly and sentimental, but he finally comprehended that Martha didn't love him. He could be dreaming, hoping and wishing for her to love him, trying to convince himself that she was back home waiting for him, thinking about him. But he knew better. On that morning he grasped that he was a soldier and he had a job to do. Lavender's death weighting heavily on him, Jimmy was "determined to perform his duties firmly and without negligence" (p. 403). He would be firm with his men, he would impose strict discipline, he would insist on his men to keep their priorities straight. He knew that might not be met with an overt enthusiasm on their part, but this is how would be from now on. He would have to carry the guilt over Ted's death until he died, but his men didn't. His job was to make sure they all survive and do their jobs the best to their abilities.
Even though Jimmy's character started as a very young man, trough that one incident, where you have to take responsibility for your actions, in that short period of time, he became a man. He became a real soldier and a Lieutenant, the real leader of his platoon.
