The Things They Carried Jimmy Cross Character Analysis

Words: 1015
Pages: 5
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Carli Cassell
DE English
Literary Analysis #2
November 18, 2016
What Love Can Do to You
The narrator of “The Things They Carried”, Tim O’Brian, was born in Minnesota. He served in the military, in Vietnam, which is why he writes to tell about some things that happen while people are at war. Jimmy cross, the main character in “The Things They Carried,” does not care much about the war that he is in. He enters the war as a sophomore in college, and he enters the military because all of his friends do. Jimmy is unsure in almost everything he does, until being completely sure is something he must be. Cross’ lets his character reflect how he cares. He does not have the responsibility it takes to take on something as big as becoming a soldier and …show more content…
The main weakness is his high school crush, Martha, which he has fallen head over heels with from back home. He was the head leader of Alpha Company, but never a true member of it, separating himself from his men in order to maintain his position of authority that he could not keep if it was not for his higher rank that he had achieved. Jimmy loves the thought that he is a leader, but he is afraid of the role and to take charge of his men. The Commanding officer lieutenant of the Alpha Company, Jimmy Cross, who is obsessed with a girl back home in New Jersey, and his fixation with her becomes a huge distraction from where his attention should be, which is on the war. Being so distracted by something besides the war could eventually lead to some major, scary problems. Martha sends Jimmy photographs and writes him letters that fail to ever mention anything about the war. Cross loves Martha more than he loves his men, and he also puts her first instead of his men. Jimmy is also a weak leader because of the type of training that he has received. His training lead him to be way more concerned with marching in line, following specific maps, and keeping his firearms clean, rather than adapting to his environment and the attitude of his men and how they all worked together. All this soon comes back to Jimmy and makes him regret the things he has done. Jimmy Cross not putting his men and the war first, results in a death of a close …show more content…
“The Things They Carried.” Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. Seventh Edition. Pierson: Upper Saddle River. 2004. 72-82. Print.
Spark notes. “The Things They Carried.” Spark Notes. N.d. Web. 18. Nov
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