Captain Cross In The Things They Carried

Improved Essays
The Author Tim O’Brien is one of the best known American writers. Tim O’Brien is known for writing about the experience of the war. O’Brien written story ”The Things They Carried” have been praised by many reviewer in the writing industry.Today’s paper will detail how the Narrator shows that Jim Cross the first lieutenant goes through a significant change caused by death of his comrade Lavender. Lieutenant cross goes through three stages of change in the story of “The Things They Carried”. From beginning, middle and end the Narrator provides context and support for these changes.
Within the first couple of minutes of reading the story the audience sees the first stages of Lieutenant Cross emotional state. Lieutenant Cross seems to be mentally
…show more content…
This is the second change of mentality and way of thinking Lieutenant Cross goes through in the story. During the second change Lieutenant Cross happens to begin daydreaming about his overseas “lover”. While day dreaming soldier Ted Lavender was shot killed instantly by an gun shot. The Narrator states “Lieutenant Cross felt the pain” of knowing one of his soldiers died (O’Brien 567). Lieutenant Cross continued to “blame himself” because he knows if he was on his p’s and q’s comrade Lavender wouldn’t have been shot and his soldiers would be more aware of the setting they were in. The next day Lieutenant Cross kept to himself saying nothing to anyone. He pictured Martha’s smooth young face thinking he loved her more than anything, more than his men and now and now Ted Lavender was dead because he loved her so much and could not stop thinking about her. This last thought process of Lieutenant Cross reveals that he going through a change of mentality because now he understands the severity of the situation he’s in and begins to come to a full understanding of the reality that him and Martha are not actually lovers. That this represents a fantasy of

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    His life was engulfed with feelings about Martha. It distracted him from performing his duties as a leader. When Ted Lavender was shot in combat, Cross did not think to lift the heavy backpack that was crushing Lavender. Instead, Cross was thinking about Martha. This goes to show how much “love” has affected Cross’ life as a soldier.…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien breaks down the border between fact and fiction as he articulates a credible collection of war stories. O’Brien takes the unique role in the novel as an imaginary character created from a blend of real and fabricated elements, but he still makes sure to elucidate that the novel is merely a work of his imagination. Nevertheless, this style of autobiographical fiction forces readers to question the fictional nature of the novel. O’Brien himself understands the blurred line separating fact from fiction, and he discusses the complex relationship between the two in his storytelling.…

    • 1192 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    O’Brien uses this to get the reader to connect because most people can 't relate to that special someone they can’t get off their mind. What he tries to hit home with is that normal things got people killed and that was impossible to avoid because of human fallibility. Heroes are supposed to have passion and drive but Cross didn’t, “care one way or the other about the war and he had no desire to command”(161). How can anyone have a passion for leading men into combat over a senseless war? If the outcome doesn’t matter as in the case of Vietnam, how can there be any motivation to keep moving on?…

    • 1341 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is a kid, thrust into a leadership role, that has the goals and attitude of an adolescent, due to his weak mindedness and insecurity about Martha. In the novel The Things They Carried Lieutenant Jimmy Cross has a flashback to a date he had with a volleyball player at the college he attended before the he left for the war.…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Elroy portrays the person that manages to get the hero back on his feet after a tragic occurrence takes something that he loves. Finally, Lieutenant Cross is the hero’s friend who can sympathize with the hero (in this case, Cross understands what not being with one’s love is like). In fact, it is crucial that the novel be interpreted as a love story rather than a love story. War stories give the reader a reading experience centered on the brutality and effects of the war on its soldiers, while love stories focus more on the interesting and unique relationships between a protagonist and somebody…

    • 1043 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The author describes many times how infatuated Cross is with Martha. He not only dwells on the memory of her, but creates fantasies in his mind. He does not merely recall memories of her; instead he imagines what might be, such as "romantic camping trips" into the White Mountains in New Hampshire (par. 1). Cross also catches himself walking away from his men and daydreaming about Martha. The mental escape and fantasies Cross endures relate to the emotional weight Lieutenant Cross carries.…

    • 926 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Synthesis Essay The novel “The Things They Carried” written by Tim O’Brien is a simple yet intriguing story about the items a troop of soldiers carried while stationed in Vietnam. Tim O’brien makes sure the story circles and centers around the horrible conditions of Vietnam. He also puts a voice in his writing so it seems like this topic was very difficult to write about. Throughout the story, O’brien seems to gain trust and courage in his writing and in his audience of young adults.. “The Things They Carried” describes the Vietnam experience and focuses on and prepares O’brien to discuss emotional issues and not just physical or environmental.…

    • 716 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried follows a group of soldiers through their tour of Vietnam. Throughout the story the reader is provided with imagery from a soldier coincidentally named Tim O’Brien, detailing the items his fellow soldiers carry in their knapsacks. The items carried show great personal connections to one another, as well as their lives outside of the war. Not only are the items described, but the emotion of warfare is depicted in great detail. Therefore, O’Brien’s imagery creates an important narrative from a soldier’s point of view.…

    • 648 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Because these soldiers fear of exile, fear the loss of reputation from society and from the people they love, they decides to go to war. Ironically, after return back from war, the veterans alienates by their family and by the country, which they fought for. This paper is helpful for understanding the metonyms that Tim O’Brien uses in “The Things They Carried”. This will lead to deeper and broader understanding of the story and the main theme that Tim tries to speak…

    • 817 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    And then suddenly, without willing it, he was thinking about Martha” (O’Brien 5). In this situation Cross has been overwhelmed by his burden of Martha’s “love” that he no longer realizes that there could even be a threat in the cave, putting everyone in danger and harming his own credibility as leader. Cross’s careless behavior as a leader caused one of his men’s life, Ted Lavender. In addition, as leader Cross has to live with guilt or burden, but could not seem to get away from his other emotional burden of love he felt, “He pictured Martha 's smooth young face, thinking he loved her more than anything, more than his men, and now Ted Lavender was dead because he loved her so much and could not stop thinking about her” (O’Brien 3). There was nothing else that Cross could do, but to live with the guilt and redeem himself by insuring his men were not killed due to his poor leadership.…

    • 1384 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Truth Lies Within The Story When faced with trauma, every individual reacts differently and chooses to express their emotions distinctly. This is especially evident in soldiers and how they deal with loss during wartime situations. In his novel The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien explores different coping mechanisms for those in traumatic situations. O 'Brien explores the various ways with which soldiers cope with wartime experiences such as through social dependency , through denial and through storytelling in order to deepen one’s understanding the effectiveness of these coping mechanisms. He argues that the only true way to cope is by accepting the reality of the situation one is facing.…

    • 1151 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Things They Carried War is a wretched battlefield. It twists the minds of soldiers, scarring them with experiences that can last a lifetime. During war, there are some experiences that one cannot verbally formulate into words that truly capture what had happened. As the author of “The Things They Carried”, Tim O’brien writes with a style that brings his stories to life, as it allows the readers to be able to feel the situation as if them themselves were in it.…

    • 1129 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    He pretended, fantasized, and obsessed about Martha as a way to comfort himself, just as many did with their girls. However, when Ted Lavender died, Cross felt personally responsible and let go of Martha “because she belonged to another world, which was not quite real” (16). Instead of continuing to use Martha as a reminder of the world outside the war, Cross comes to accept that his world is the war, and labels the world in which Martha lives as unreal. In this acceptance, though he grieves for his former self, he finds peace. Therefore, when Kiowa dies in In the Field, Cross does not turn to a female to try to…

    • 1467 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I believe Cross wrote this novel for some type of closure to the life he lived. He wanted to take the world through the things he experienced so that we could visually understand what all he went through. While writing this book he returned back to the intermediate setting of the Vietnam War. Also, if you have noticed Cross speaks in third party as he is telling this story, to really put himself right in the middle of his own book. Cross really wanted his readers to feel the pain he was going through with Martha.…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Right off the bat we are introduced to this problem as the author begins to describing Mr. Cross’s emotions and fantasies of the girl Martha. This fantasy and lack of focus quickly becomes the antagonist of the story as it results in one of his man, Ted Lavender, being shot and kill during one of their missions. As the story progresses we see the protagonist develop a guilt over the death of his soldier and as we come to the conclusion of the story, we get a protagonist who has completely changed his perspective. Stepping fulling into his roll as a lieutenant, we get a passage describing how he gets rid of everything that reminds him of Martha as he realizes that his obligation is not to be loved but to lead. This again brings us back to the main idea being that personal burdens are the heaviest things this men carry.…

    • 628 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays