Corps because it is worth a few credits and because his friends PARAGRAPH Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’s dilemma arose from the natural impulses of a young man in love coupled with the incessant responsibilities of a combat officer. is killed, Cross allows himself to be distracted and deluded by Jimmy Cross is the First Lieutenant who carries “the responsibility for the lives of his men” (O’Brien 429). For example, Lt. Cross attempts to persuade himself of his own competence by relying on standard operating procedure after Lavender is killed as a means to exonerate himself from feelings of personal culpability in Lavender's death as well as his pathetic neediness for Martha's love. Cross let his imagined love get in the way of his responsibilities and one of his men was killed. … but he used heat tabs and Sterno to build a small fire, screening it with his body, holding the photographs over the tight blue flame with the tips of his fingers”(O’Brien pg. This is physically the closest he ever gets to her, although he dreams about her the whole time he is in Vietnam, and possibly it is his laxity that gets Lavender killed. Character "Tim O'Brien," a middle-aged writer, recalls when, many years after the war, Lt. Jimmy Cross visits him at his home. Related. He lives for the knowledge that he is a leader, but is constantly afraid of that role. First, Ted Lavender died when he was shot in the head leaving the bathroom. But Lieutenant Jimmy Cross wasn't listening. His training forced him to be concerned more with marching in line, following preset maps, and keeping guns clean — following pre-decided standard operating procedures — rather than adapting to his environment and the attitude of his men. He never wanted to go to war, nor did he want to have to lead men. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross The Things They Carried Character Analysis of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross The Things They Carried is the first of a series of short stories that depict soldiers' lives during war times. It was a simple pebble, an ounce at most. Lieutenant Cross loved a girl named Martha and the chapter ¨Love¨ is based on his love for her. They Carried,” Cross bears the grief of Lavender’s death for the The nature of the Vietnam War, however, makes this kind of leadership impossible because the steps to achieve the objective of the war are undefined and obfuscated. He was very carrying about what happened to his men and was very unhappy when he would loose a man. him. But he doesn’t care about the war and has no desire Martha is the object of Cross's sexual desire, Linda is not the subject of O'Brien's; Martha prevents Cross from being a soldier, Linda teaches Timmy about death. Then he burned the two photographs. In the first week of April, before Lavender died, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross received a good-luck charm from Martha. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross tried to lead his platoon the best he could. The sadness has to do with a \"secret\" that Martha keeps, possibly that she has been raped. Cross is a young soldier, drafted like many others, and committed to the war effort and getting his men out alive. confession to O’Brien, years later, that he has never forgiven himself 20). "What we should do, I guess," Norman Bowker said, "is tell the LT." Mitchell Sanders shook his head. In the The letters weighed 10 ounces. © 2020 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. You could blame the war. First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’s combination of physical and emotional burdens show the fear, guilt and regret that demonstrate soldiers at war as seen in Cross’s realization after the death of Lavender, “His mind wandered. Be a team leader # book # from your Reading List will also remove any bookmarked Pages associated with title. 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