Lieutenant Jimmy Cross Character

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Now that we have revealed the source for powerlessness, we can consider the importance physical items have on the emotional stability of each soldier. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, the narrator of the short story, provides insight into his struggle to obtain a sense of stability. Cross carries letters from his sweetheart back home, Martha, which reflect his longing for her love. Cross, however, is eventually presented without power due to the face that Martha may never love him back. He becomes aware of this as he remembers “when he kissed her, she received the kiss without returning it, her eyes wide open, not afraid, not a virgin’s eyes, just flat and uninvolved” (O’Brien 341). Despite her lack of interest in him, Martha continues to write Cross …show more content…
The leather and ink of the bible make him feel more alive yet it also reflects Kiowa’s incapacity to feel the same amount of grief and compassion that Cross feels (O’Brien 346). Kiowa believes his friends death should be impacting him the same way it is affecting the Lieutenant, but instead, his grieving is brief and he is back to reading his bible. Henry Dobbins, known for being a big man, carried extra rations. With an insatiable appetite, he is especially fond of food. His favorite happens to be peaches covered in syrup (O’Brien 334). The food he carries is a reflection of his soft personality having come from Midwest America. Although he is large in stature and appears tough on the outside, he is sweet and kind on the inside. According to Cross, he is a good soldier, but the powerlessness of his gentle character causes the senseless killing of war to take its toll on his emotional …show more content…
The power is given to a central power, and the illusion of power is dispersed through disciplines. There is a power in being able to observe without being observed back. Initially, utilitarian social theorist Jeremy Bentham developed the panopticon as a prison design. He did this as a way to “ensure the constant surveillance of prisoners in order to force the development of general utility through diligent hard work” (Smith et al. 47). Within the short story “The Things They Carried,” the soldiers are not being physically observed by anyone in particular. Nor are they placed in a panoptic structure, which is typically circular. Just as the items can be used metaphorically, so can this view. Each soldier carries items that place them in their own personal bubble, disconnecting them from the rest of the world. This is especially true for Cross who cannot focus on anything but Martha. The emotional burden of her unreciprocated love is the bubble that surrounds him, seeping into his consciousness at every given moment. It is so powerful that he even see’s her image when she is not there. Furthermore, the reason this design works is because “prisoners could not perceive whether they were under observation at any given moment. This uncertainty would result in a constant assumption of observation. Thus, prisoners would behave as if they were under constant observation” (Smith et al. 47). The power in being able to
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