Blog #7 assignment

Wenhui Luo
ENG102. 0826
Professor: Dr. Luke Vasileiou
04 May 2010

The Transformation of Jimmy Cross

Jimmy Cross is the main character in the story “The Things They Carried” written by Tim O’ Brien who was drafted into U.S. Army and served as an infantryman in Vietnam. At the beginning of the story, O’ Brien showed us that Jimmy Cross is the First Lieutenant and loved a girl named Martha. These two points will lead us to the understanding of how Jimmy Cross changed in the story which included both transformation of his mind and his action. Jimmy Cross transformed from a man who deeply loved Martha and paid little attention to the war into a responsible leader who cared much more for his men than he did for Martha.

To be a leader in a war was meaningless to Jimmy Cross compared to the love he had for Martha. In the story, O’ Brien mentioned how Jimmy Cross carried letters written from Martha and two of her photographs instead of carrying necessities of war. This showed that Martha was much more important to Jimmy even though he became a team leader and was facing the cruel war which might take away his life. He kept her letters with him though they were not love letters. His thought about whether Martha was a virgin when he was watching the night because he had loved her so much. Jimmy hoped Martha loved him the way he loved her. In addition, when Lieutenant Cross moved to the tunnel, he showed little concentration on his task and instead thought about Martha. “And then suddenly, without willing it, he was thinking about Martha,” (O’ Brien 397) and “Lieutenant Cross gazed at the tunnel. But he was not there. He was buried with Martha under the white sand at the Jersey shore…” (397) are evidences that Jimmy Cross’ mind was full of Martha and could hold nothing more in his mind but disregard the duty of being a leader in a war.

Ted Lavender’s death was a turning point that caused Jimmy Cross to become a responsible leader. Jimmy always thought he loved Martha more than anything, more than his men; however, things had changed since Ted Lavender, one of his men, was shot. O’ Brien depicted Jimmy Cross’ psychological warfare by using Kiowa, the only one character in the story who saw Lavender’s death. Every time Kiowa mentioned how Lavender died, Jimmy Cross felt pain and found himself trembling. In fact, there was a scale in Cross’ mind; either to be a responsible leader and take care of his men or continue to think about Martha, day and night, during the war. Obviously, Jimmy could not choose both because the cruel war did not allow him to handle both at the same time which we see when Cross handles the tunnel duty. As O’ Brien described Jimmy Cross “He felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war, ” (399) we realize that Jimmy Cross was able to accept the heavy duty as a leader. Also, from Kiowa’s words, “The lieutenant’s in some deep hurt. I mean that crying jag---the way he was carrying on---it wasn’t fake or anything, it was real heavy-duty hurt. The man cares,” (399) the man cares in Cross’ mind was taking over the love he had for Martha due to deep grief and Jimmy blaming himself for the death of Ted Lavender. In other words, the scale in Cross’ mind was being heavily weighted on becoming a leader to take care his men after Lavender died.

Burning Martha’s letters and photographs is the climax of Jimmy Cross’ transformation. As we know, Martha’s letters and photographs were the most important things Jimmy Cross carried. The burning of these two things when it was raining was a symbol of what a difficult decision Jimmy had to make for which he had to stop thinking about Martha. At that moment, Jimmy tried to erase Martha, his best care, or the thing from another world which was not related to the war. He needed a strong will to make up his mind especially facing the person he had so much care for. What could maintain his will? It was grief and guilt. Such a grievous and guilty feeling was so deep in Cross’ heart that caused him to choose to forget Martha by burning her letters and photographs in order to force himself to become a responsible leader. After Jimmy burned Martha’s letters and photographs, he finally comprehended that “she wasn’t involved. She signed the letters Love, but it wasn’t love, and all the fine lines and technicalities did not matter. Virginity was no longer an issue, (402).” “Lieutenant Jimmy Cross reminded himself that his obligation was not to be loved but to lead,” (403) he would never make the same mistake and never daydream about Martha in the Jersey shoreline. At the end, he got rid of his innocent love. He truly became a soldier and transformed his role.

Jimmy Cross transformed from the beginning to the end of the story. He thought Martha was the most important thing in his life than anything else. However, he was a round character who changed after Ted Lavender died. This turning point led Jimmy Cross to look closely at himself and later burn Martha’s letters and photographs. In conclusion, Jimmy Cross first loved Martha more and cared less for his men and then transformed into a man who wanted to be a good leader and fulfill his duties--the man cares.