The Things They Carried
Tim O'Brien's novel The Things They Carried leaves many who read the story confused about what parts are true or false. The story talks about O’Brien and the soldiers experience in the Vietnam war. Throughout, the whole story O’Brien reveals the feeling of home, false sense of identity and heroism through Martha.
The sense of home is represented through Martha who seems to be the escape for Jimmy Cross through the whole war. In the story O’Brien states “unwrap the letters, hold them with the tips of his fingers, and spend the last hour of light pretending.”(Pg 7) which tells how she was his escape from the war as he would imagine away from it through her. The author later in the novel talks on how Lieutenant Cross wasn’t at the tunnel and instead "He was buried with Martha under the white sand at the Jersey Shore"(Pg 12), explaining how that was his escape. The author displayed Martha’s image as a salvation for the soldiers, a way to escape their reality of war. …show more content…
O’Brien exhibits this by revealing what led to Lavender's death was Crosses distraction by Martha’s image. After Lavander death Cross realized “He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead” (pg 42). The guilt of Lavender's death always stayed with Cross and he blamed himself and Martha’s image so he “crouched at the bottom of his foxhlr and burned Martha’s letters” (Pgb 131). O’Brien showed how Cross felt the guilt for letting Martha's image get the best of him which led to the death of one of his soldiers. The false identity is revealed again when he remembered “ he touched her knee, she turned and looked at him in a sad, sober way that made him pull his hand back..." (pg 21) giving her a loss in purity for how he lusted over
Tim O'Brien's novel The Things They Carried leaves many who read the story confused about what parts are true or false. The story talks about O’Brien and the soldiers experience in the Vietnam war. Throughout, the whole story O’Brien reveals the feeling of home, false sense of identity and heroism through Martha.
The sense of home is represented through Martha who seems to be the escape for Jimmy Cross through the whole war. In the story O’Brien states “unwrap the letters, hold them with the tips of his fingers, and spend the last hour of light pretending.”(Pg 7) which tells how she was his escape from the war as he would imagine away from it through her. The author later in the novel talks on how Lieutenant Cross wasn’t at the tunnel and instead "He was buried with Martha under the white sand at the Jersey Shore"(Pg 12), explaining how that was his escape. The author displayed Martha’s image as a salvation for the soldiers, a way to escape their reality of war. …show more content…
O’Brien exhibits this by revealing what led to Lavender's death was Crosses distraction by Martha’s image. After Lavander death Cross realized “He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead” (pg 42). The guilt of Lavender's death always stayed with Cross and he blamed himself and Martha’s image so he “crouched at the bottom of his foxhlr and burned Martha’s letters” (Pgb 131). O’Brien showed how Cross felt the guilt for letting Martha's image get the best of him which led to the death of one of his soldiers. The false identity is revealed again when he remembered “ he touched her knee, she turned and looked at him in a sad, sober way that made him pull his hand back..." (pg 21) giving her a loss in purity for how he lusted over