Guilt In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

By carrying the pebble of Martha around, Jimmy Cross creates a false hope of them being together, knowingly distracting him from his duties as leader of his platoon. Not only did Lieutenant Cross carry a pebble, he also had a picture of her in the bottom of his knapsack, to keep him mentally grounded. By having her presence on him, he is able to imaginatively drift off into thought where they can be together back in New Jersey. While being distracted by the pebble, one of his platoon mates, Ted Lavender died. This causes Cross to believe that it has not only his fault for being distracted, but also Martha’s fault for distracting him. Cross felt guilt, “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 …show more content…
The death of his pureness haunted the platoon with the perpetual thought of what they could have done to save him, all while knowing his death was not their fault. This caused each of them to not only blame himself, but each other. Harold Bloom writes that “The balance of the story is the meditation on blame… Each individual in the shit field feels he knows who to blame -- himself, others, all of them, none of them, the higher ups, and so on. Each also suspects it is beyond them.” (Bloom 55) The soldiers use blame as escapism from the conceptual burden that his death has given them, and as an attempt to cope with his death. Although the soldiers never cease to blame themselves, they think that his death is beyond them. Kiowa, much like an angel, constantly forgave them for their sins that war has forced upon them. The fact that they believe that Kiowa was taken by a higher power only reveals that they have not yet lost faith in Religion and the