Jennifer Oduca
ENGL 001A
6:40-8:00pm
The Role of Women In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, there were hardly any major characters that were women. The men in the novel had various views about the women they love or hate. Women in the novel were often fantasized about, either from memory or with an imaginary future. While the women roles in the novel are minor, they hold an impact towards the men. In the novel, the role of women is used as an escape and a reminder of home. In the start of the novel, Lieutenant Cross carries a handful of items that dealt with a girl named Martha. He carries two pictures of her and letters that she had written to him.
“First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha…He would
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“On the morning after Ted Lavender died, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha’s letters. Then he burned the two photographs.” (22)
Linda is one of the characters that affect O’Brien, who is also portrayed as a character in his own novel. Linda is one of the people that O’Brien falls in love with. He notices that she wears a red cap despite being teased about it. One day, it’s taken off of her head and everyone can see that she is balding and had bandages on her head.
“I could see bones and veins; I could see the exact structure of her skull. There was a large Band-Aid at the back of her head, a row of black stitches, a piece of gauze taped above her left ear.” (216)
In the end, Linda had died, but he had used Linda as an escape. He would imagine if she was still alive and their future together. He would invent hiss dreams and have Linda appear which would feel like a miracle to him.
“Lying in bed at night, I made up elaborate stories to bring Linda alive in my sleep. I invented my own dreams.”
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When she was first introduced, she was dressed as a proper lady as well as acted like one.
“She had long white legs and blue eyes and a complexion like strawberry ice cream. Very friendly, too.” (89)
Mark Fossie had used her as an escape as they both thought about their future together down to the details of their house and their children. Before she entered the campgrounds, Mark Fossie would often babble about her and their future together. He would show her off to the other soldiers, excited that she would be flying over to visit.
“…for a fact that someday they would be married, and live in a fine gingerbread house near Lake Erie, and have three healthy yellow-haired children…” (90)
However, once she arrived, she takes on a transformation that baffles Fossie. Her transformation causes the imagination between her and Mark Fossie to be
After Ted Lavender died, Jimmy burned Martha’s letters and photos and promised himself never to get distracted again. Jimmy realize that he was living a fantasy and that it was time for him
In “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien the soldiers were allowed to bring various items with them. The majority of these items were common for soldiers to carry, such as their rifle, mosquito repellent, and extra ammunition. Some soldiers brought things from back home with them, in order to help give them a reason to return home. Every item had significance to help suit their individual needs and desires. During this time of war and the harsh environment, they were exposed to they all needed something of comfort.
The Things They Carried is about Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, the leading officer of a band of soldiers in the Vietnam War. It is written by Tim O’Brien. Jimmy falls in love withe girl named Martha who is back home attending college. He carries a couple of pictures and letters that she has sent. The group comes across a runner and they draw numbers to see who has to go in to check it out.
He explains of the battle of facing heartbreak while trying to control everything else. Lieutenant Cross carried love letters from a girl name Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College. More than anything, he wanted Martha to love him as he loved her, but the letters were filled with pointless conversations, exclusive on the matter of romance. Martha singed each letter with “Love, Martha,” but Lieutenant Cross understood that Love was only a way of signing and Martha did not mean it in the way he pretended she did. Cross thought about Martha each and every day.
If you asked someone what the topic of the book is they would probably tell you that it is about war. They would be mistaken, The things they carried is a book about love and loss. Across the entire book the stories “The Things They
He would sometimes taste the evelope flaps, knowing her tangue had been there. More than anything he wanted Martha to love him as he loved her, but the latters were mostly chatty, elusive on the matter of love." From this quote we can his love for Martha, the way he still had feelings at War , where you had to be focus on serviving and not making a space for love. Martha represents love, even through the fact that she never loved Jimmy Cross, his love for her keeped him alive, she helped him to go through the day. He imagined how one day after war they will be together, he carries her photograph<
At times, he neglects his troop to go daydream about Marta. In the first chapter the book says,” He pictures 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
He dreams of her so that he can pretend she isn’t dead and feel relieved for a few hours. When she died of cancer when he was young; he was heartbroken and did not want to come to terms with her being dead. He thought through his adolescent years that Linda was invincible. He mentions that one time Linda had asked him to stop crying, showing how much he cared for her and how badly he missed her. So he constantly dreamed of her so that he could see her and make him feel happy for small moments.
Many people try escaping the draft of war usually fleeing to another country. In the book, The Things They Carried, the author Tim O’ Brien considered fleeing to Canada when he discovered he was going to be sent to Vietnam. Though he had the opportunity too, O’ Brien decided not to flee so he would not disappoint his family and friends. However, during the war he wrote segments, or chapters, of his life pertaining events that occurred while he was away in Vietnam. O’ Brien included information that was not normally discussed in war such as events that occurred, actions performed, or visuals seen.
Most teens now face many difficulties, but through those challenges, they can find many important life lessons. The novel “Red Glass” is by Laura Resau, it is about a girl named Sophie who overcame many struggles throughout her journey. Sophie is insecure, but she’s mostly brave. She is a bit if a germaphobe to. All of these traits that Sophie has conquered led her to learn a big life lesson.
Martha had a big effect on Jimmy cross 's during his adventure in Vietnam. “Jimmy Cross 's had loved Martha more than his man , and as a consequence lavender was dead now and this was something he had to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war and life.” Martha was a young lady that Lieutenant Jimmy Cross was obsessed with. It was very possible the distraction of Martha caused lavender to die. Although Martha never loved cross.
Jimmy Cross is the first lieutenant who carries pictures and letters from Martha, the woman he loves who—sadly—does not love him back. The pictures and letters from Martha symbolize Jimmy’s longing to be loved and comforted. It is ironic that although he is the first lieutenant who is expected to take charge and lead others, yet he never took charge of his own love life. This is a regret and burden Cross carries to the end of the story. “It was very sad, he thought.
Cross blames himself, knowing “He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead…” (p. 121). First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is distracted by his infatuation for Martha, which ultimately results in Ted Lavender’s death, forcing Cross to realize his fantasies for Martha are wrong and that he is not fulfilling his duties as a lieutenant. Lieutenant Cross is inattentive to the war and his responsibilities because he is unable and unwilling to stop thinking about his adoration for Martha.
“And it was then, listening, that they would feel the trapdoor open, and they’d be falling into that emptiness where all the dreams used to be. They tried to hide it, though…” “an enormous white mountain he had been climbing all his life, and now he watched it come rushing down on him, all that disgrace” John’s mother was quoted saying “But sometimes I feel like his father made him feel-oh, made him feel-oh-maybe overweight” Anthony L. Carbo was quoted saying “He didn’t talk much. Even his wife, I don’t think she knew the first damn thing about…well, about any of it. That man just kept everything buried. Richard Thinbill, in a testimony stated, “We called him Sorcerer.
“Ted Lavender, who was scared, carried tranquilizers until he was shot in the head.” Pg. 2 This is ironic because the Ted was the most frighten person in the group who was scared to die and somehow he was the first victim to die. “The thumb was dark brown, rubbery to the touch, and weighed 4 ounces at most.” Pg.