Tameka Richards
Professor Lange
English 1102
17 June 2015
The Things They Carried Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” is a gripping story of both love and war. The characters in this story derive from their brave and courageous actions while in the battlefield of the Vietnam War. While some of the characters sole focus is war, unfortunately others can’t think of anything else but love. Lieutenant Cross, of the Alpha Company, is madly in love with Martha, a girl he’d met in college back in New Jersey. One would think that Lieutenant Cross’ love affair with Martha was mutual, but it was far from the truth. Cross is one of those people that’s a hopeless romantic and in being that, he’s longing for the love and companionship of Martha to …show more content…
Lavender was killed in the battlefield and Cross, blaming himself as he was thinking about Martha at the time and wasn’t focused on his men “Ted Lavender was dead because he loved her so much and could not stop thinking about her” page 103. Martha ended up sending Cross a good-luck charm that she’d found along the shoreline of the Jersey Shore. While Martha wrote that “it was this separate-but-together quality that had inspired her to pick up the pebble” page 104, Lieutenant Cross had wondered what exactly did she mean by “separate-but-together” as he found the gesture romantic. While Lieutenant Cross’ men are struggling with the things that they’re carrying, he suddenly begins to think about Martha against his will. It was like he breathed Martha and without her he was suffocating “but his love was too much for him, he felt paralyzed, he wanted to sleep inside her lungs and breathe her blood and be smothered” page 105. There was so much that Lieutenant Cross wanted to know about Martha, his infatuation kept him intrigued with everything about her. He had shared with her one evening of his loneliness that filled him with love and remembered after sharing his feelings how disinterested and uninvolved she’d
Professor Lange
English 1102
17 June 2015
The Things They Carried Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” is a gripping story of both love and war. The characters in this story derive from their brave and courageous actions while in the battlefield of the Vietnam War. While some of the characters sole focus is war, unfortunately others can’t think of anything else but love. Lieutenant Cross, of the Alpha Company, is madly in love with Martha, a girl he’d met in college back in New Jersey. One would think that Lieutenant Cross’ love affair with Martha was mutual, but it was far from the truth. Cross is one of those people that’s a hopeless romantic and in being that, he’s longing for the love and companionship of Martha to …show more content…
Lavender was killed in the battlefield and Cross, blaming himself as he was thinking about Martha at the time and wasn’t focused on his men “Ted Lavender was dead because he loved her so much and could not stop thinking about her” page 103. Martha ended up sending Cross a good-luck charm that she’d found along the shoreline of the Jersey Shore. While Martha wrote that “it was this separate-but-together quality that had inspired her to pick up the pebble” page 104, Lieutenant Cross had wondered what exactly did she mean by “separate-but-together” as he found the gesture romantic. While Lieutenant Cross’ men are struggling with the things that they’re carrying, he suddenly begins to think about Martha against his will. It was like he breathed Martha and without her he was suffocating “but his love was too much for him, he felt paralyzed, he wanted to sleep inside her lungs and breathe her blood and be smothered” page 105. There was so much that Lieutenant Cross wanted to know about Martha, his infatuation kept him intrigued with everything about her. He had shared with her one evening of his loneliness that filled him with love and remembered after sharing his feelings how disinterested and uninvolved she’d