... , many young men were forced to leave their wives and families to fight for a questionable cause. In this particular story, Martha serves as a representation of family. Lieutenant Cross, the man in charge of the soldiers, longs to be reunited with Martha. Martha occupies much of Cross's time and weighs heavily on his heart every night when "he would return to his hole and ... and body, and she serves as a measuring rod against which the corrupted minds of the soldiers can be compared. Cross is faced with the violence of war and looks to Martha as a way to lighten the load that he is carr...

• Word Count: 1146
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... the death of one of his men ultimately lead to his dehumanization. Lieutenant Cross is very captivated by a girl named Martha, although he knows she does not love him and never will. Martha writes Cross letters that he keeps in the bottom of his rucksack. Sometimes he reads her letters before nightfall and ... a duty to be a leader for his men in the midst of a very brutal war. But Cross has other things on his mind; he thinks about Martha constantly. When Ten Lavender is so tragically shot, Cross is also shot, but not with a bullet "with reality. As the platoon leader, Cross immediatel...

• Word Count: 480
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... They Carried," by Tim O"Brien In Tim O"Briens "The Things They Carried," O"Brien describes the blind obsession of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross for a young girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey. Burdened by the physical and psychological aspects of the Vietnam War, Cross often finds himself daydreaming and distracted ... near the Village of Than Khe. As a result of Cross's negligence, Private Ted Lavender gets shot in the head. Consequently, Cross destroys all of Martha's letters and photos because he is angry with his own carelessness, and he feels so burdened wi...

• Word Count: 582
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... They Carried," by Tim O"Brien In Tim O"Briens "The Things They Carried," O"Brien describes the blind obsession of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross for a young girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey. Burdened by the physical and psychological aspects of the Vietnam War, Cross often finds himself daydreaming and distracted ... near the Village of Than Khe. As a result of Cross's negligence, Private Ted Lavender gets shot in the head. Consequently, Cross destroys all of Martha's letters and photos because he is angry with his own carelessness, and he feels so burdened wi...

• Word Count: 517
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... face in the short story lead up to what we know as the plot. The main conflict in this story is the conflict between Lieutenant Cross and Martha, his letter lover. When the Lieutenant doesn't take part in his duties at the war, they loose men. He realizes that his problem is fantasizing about ... Martha all of the time. When one of Jimmy's closest and best men dies he is left to make a difficult or even impossible choice, known as dilemma. This ... focus more directly on his job as the first Lieutenant of the Vietnam War. Instead of letting his mind drift off into a daydream over Martha...

• Word Count: 313
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... weight of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross" rucksack and the things he carried could not even compare to the weight of his love for Martha and his responsibility for the death of one of his men because of his love for Martha. This, along with his responsibility for the rest of his men, caused him to choose between the two. He symbolically threw away ... the burden of his love for Martha by burning her letters and throwing away the pebble she gave him. Doing this did nothing in ... removing the burden because he knew them by heart already and his love for Martha would not change. He would still t...

• Word Count: 1072
• Approx Pages: 4

... of them useless, depending on their nature just to cope with the stress of the war. Jim Cross, the platoon leader carried photos and letters from a girl back in America, Martha. Dave Jensen carried a toothbrush and Rat Kiley carried comic books. All of these loads were reminders of the homeland and in a way they were the objects weakening them even though ... , he never talks about what the objects weighed mentally, especially those objects, which are useless in the fighting. We know that "the letters from Martha, Jimmy Cross's love, weighed 10 ounces- (2), but we don't know how much Mar...

• Word Count: 1574
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... and other tools, but he also chooses to bring along letters and a pebble to remind him of his love Martha. By carrying these items that remind him of Martha, O"Brien hints into the true thoughts running oppressing his mind. The visions of Martha consume his brain, making him somewhat oblivious to the war acts going on around him. The other kind of physical ... the emotional items, which in turns brings out more sentiment by the reader. The purest example of this is when he describes the thoughts in Jimmy Cross" mind about touching Martha's left knee. The reader is able to put themselves...

• Word Count: 1097
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... experienced by the other soldiers in the once seventeen-man platoon, but none as telling as Cross". He transforms both as an individual and a commander. His once treasured fantasies involving Martha are no longer dear, he becomes a realist. Cross also becomes a stricter commander, a "stickler" for order. Lavender's death causes Cross, like his other soldiers, to realize the harsh truth of the ... strength." All of this so another man will not die, leaving his blood on Jimmy Cross's hands. Cross's feelings for his beloved Martha also change. He recognizes the fact that he is holding on t...

• Word Count: 689
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... the internal secrets and conflicts of men at war. The book opens with a look into the mind of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, a man deeply in love with a quiet, poetic girl named Martha. A girl who has no love for him. As Jimmy Cross continues to march with his men across Vietnam, he becomes more and more lost in his imaginary world where ... Martha is his wife. When amidst his daydreaming one of his men, the dope-smoking Ted Lavender is shot and killed, Jimmy Cross takes the blame upon himself. Forever, he carries ... with him the guilt of a man's death. Forever he hates Martha for what she h...

• Word Count: 982
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... is that of the importance of certain objects or feelings used by the soldiers of Alpha Company to survive the war. Jimmy Cross, the leader the group, carries a picture of a Martha, a girl who writes him from the states. Jimmy knows that there is no real relationship between the two, but he uses the picture the help keep him connected to the ... the soldiers in each other with their lives created the friendship and bond that helped them survive each day in Vietnam. Jimmy Cross burned his treasured photos and letters from Martha because he feared that he was letting down the men. When Ted...

• Word Count: 1676
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... a change in actions that they have been doing. In the story Lieutenant Cross makes both of the changes after the death of Lavender. He changes his values by acknowledging that Martha was not in love with him and now he would not be in love with her and he also burnt the pictures and letters so he was not looking at ... ...

• Word Count: 1205
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... plot comes when Ted Lavender is shot and killed. Boom. Down. After Lavender dies, Jimmy Cross has a profound change and is all business. Cross sacrifices his love and fantasy for Martha for the protection and safety of his men. Everything that fantasy represented is lost. At this point, Jimmy Cross understood. "It was very sad, he thought. The things men carried ... ...

• Word Count: 459
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... known. Unit 5, topic 3 Civil Rights- Blacks wanted equally they wanted the same education ability, to vote, and to be able to sit in the same seats just to name a few. Martha Parks refusal to give up her seat on the bus set it off. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed. The civil ... ...

• Word Count: 457
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... many other dazzling novels. Some of those novels are "If I Die In Combat Zone", " Going After Cacciato," and his most recent novel "In the Lake of the Woods"(Tim O"Brien's Biography). In these novels, O"Brien discusses one issue that leads to a discussion of seemingly opposite issues. His novel "If I Die In Combat Zone" was a memoir of his Vietnam Tour and he ... ...

• Word Count: 1155
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... feel better. Linda is the creator of Tim O"Brien's magnificent stories. It's a very powerful story and it brings a lot of personality and emotion into view. I found out later in a short biography that the author was actually in the Vietnam War, and he returned home on an honorable discharge. Which really means that he wrote the story with a personal experience of the ... ...

• Word Count: 948
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

In Bruce J. Schulman's brief biography of former President Lyndon B. Johnson, Schulman offers a digest of Johnson's early life through his persistent means of working towards American liberalism. In his book, Schulman states that Johnson "personified a liberal, ... ...

• Word Count: 1529
• Approx Pages: 6

... in 1966. A Court Marshall tried him from 1970 to 1971 . He was charged with killing at least 102 Vietnamese. He said he was following orders. In an article from www.biography.com it said that many people thought Calley was "made a scapegoat for all the atrocities of the Vietnam War." He was accused of killing 22 South Vietnamese, and was given ... ...

• Word Count: 505
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School