Book Report: The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien
...Rat Kiley carried comic books. In Jimmy Cross’ case, he carried the memory, and assorted objects, of Martha, a woman that he direly in love with back at home. In the beginning of the story, the author hints towards obsession when he comments on Jimmy’s infatuation with Martha, “He would sometimes taste the envelope flaps, knowing her tongue had been there” (616). It is safe to say that in war, there is no time for distraction, every moment is potentially dangerous. Out of all of the men involved in war, the leaders are supposed to be the most dedicated. If casualties were the fault of anyone, it would be right on the leaders. But then again, they are only men, and have troubles like all of the rest. ”Jimmy Cross...carried...the responsibility of the lives of his men” (618). In the story, Jimmy still does his job, but it in a half-hearted manner. “Slowly, a bit distracted, he would get up and move among his men, checking the perimeter, then at full dark he would return to his hole and watch the night and wonder if Martha was still a virgin” (616). In another instance, this one much more dangerous, “He loved her so much...His mind wandered. He had difficulty keeping his attention on the war. On occasion he would yell at his men to spread out the column, to keep their eyes open, but then he would slip away into daydreams, just pretending, walking barefoot along the Jersey shore, with Martha, carrying nothing” (621). Jimmy loved Martha for one main reason. The thought of her brought a certain bittersweet serenity to his mind while he was in the grips of war, and this only made him love her more. It would only add to his love every time he would escape in thought of her because of that fleeing from reality. He was attracted to the fact that she was ignorant of what exactly was going on where he was. She had been rejecting the idea that there were such awful things happening. “...She belonged to another world, which was not quite real, and because she was a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey...” (626). The line “which was not quite real,” stands out very much in this situation. O’Brien conveys the fact that in Jimmy’s mind, Martha is just a fantasy that is not real, and will never be real. Martha’s rejection of the idea of war is very evident in the story. “She often quoted lines of poetry; she never mentioned the war, except to say, Jimmy, take care of yourself” (616). This is not to say that she did not know the war was occurring, but that she did not want to accept the fact that very awful things were happening. She merely wanted to express the fact that she was not acknowledging the war, and to express some care in say...