... name of Jimmy Cross. O"Brien studies every feeling and move that Cross makes and tells the love that Cross has for a girl named Martha. Each time during a walk, he would carry and read the love letters he received from Martha and would have a variety of thoughts in his mind about her and spending time together (Legacies, 851). As you read on throughout ... shown, such as being in a tunnel and a thought of her pops into his mind (Legacies, 856). Or when during a battle at the village, he comes out saying that "he loved Martha more than he loved his men" (Legacies, 859). What O"Brien seem...

• Word Count: 939
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... disturber. "They carried shameful memories" memories brought forth emotions and feelings (O'Brien 238). Lieutenant Cross, carried letters from a girl back home, Martha, who visited the same college as him. She wrote to him and told him of a story where she was on the New Jersey shoreline with ... killed because Cross wasn't monitoring his crew during a session of rest from their long marches; Cross was reading the letters he received from Martha when Lavender was shot and dropped to the ground with a type of dense gravity of all the things he carried. The darkness of ... "where things c...

• Word Count: 1571
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... , 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

... We come to understand through the story that this is something soldiers dream about: coming back and being together with what they know and love. Perhaps Martha wanted Jimmy to have a piece of home to give him something else to think about rather than the war; for it was found at "high ... her go. She is trying to be as sweet as she can about it, yet Jimmy's emotions are too thick to read between the lines. Possibly Martha somehow knows that all Jimmy does is think about her. I believe this and think she is attempting to make him start acting like a Lieutenant, the ... honorary duty b...

• Word Count: 668
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... Lavender is killed, and this greatly affects Cross. Because Cross is the Alpha man, he felt as if it was his fault for Lavenders death. "He pictured Martha's smooth young face, thinking he loved her more than anything, more than his men, and now Ted Lavender was dead because he loved her so much and could ... not stop thinking about her (O'Brien 644)." All Cross could think of is Martha and how much he loved her, he used her as something to look forward to and as a distraction from anything around him. Often times, when he was ... scared to do something, he would begin to think about Ma...

• Word Count: 1337
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... . The author says that Cross carried a photo and a bunch of letters written by the woman he admired the most, Martha. Because of the love Cross had for Martha, the writer says that he would sit down and imagine things happening between him and Martha. "He would imagine romantic camping trips into the white mountains in the New Hampshire'' (O'Brien 1). Through this relationship ... ; that is at the end of the letters from her. While he is way in the war, Cross sadly remembers how he had wanted to tell Martha that he loved her and he would wish to spend a night with her. The writer says, &a...

• Word Count: 2300
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• 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

... 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

... America. John Wayne has become, for Americans and those who watch his movies, "a symbolic male figure, a man of impregnable virility and the embodiment of simplistic, laconic virtues" (www.jwayne.com/biography.shtml). One can believe that the influence John Wayne has on American society helps shape the way Vietnamese immigrants are treated in America. John Wayne has a deep love for his ... people. John Wayne has become, for Americans and those who watch his movies, "a symbolic male figure, a man of impregnable virility and the embodiment of simplistic, laconic virtues" (www.jwayne.com/b...

• Word Count: 1220
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• 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 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

... -Times called "an apocalyptic masterpiece." Heller's past is very evident throughout Catch-22. Joseph Heller grew up in Coney Island, New York, a town famous for its carnival atmosphere and attractions (Biography 1). This environment led to Heller's satirical and darkly humorous attitude evident in his own life and especially in his writing. Catch-22 is a social satire that utilizes dark humor. In ... ...

• Word Count: 896
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School