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Jimmy Cross Symbolism In The Things They Carried

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It’s Not Just Physical: The Things They Carried Through Vietnam Soldiers of the Vietnam War marched miles and miles through the humid broiling forests of Vietnam. So the question every soldier asks themselves is, to hump or not to hump, though maybe not in those exact words. As Tim O’Brien so eloquently puts it in his novel, The Things They Carried, “To carry something was to hump it” (O’Brien 3). Already carrying twelve to eighteen pounds of necessities, an item must be of great significance for a soldier to lug the extra weight. Ted Lavender carried six to seven ounces of “premium dope” and an extra twenty pounds of ammunition, Kiowa carried an illustrated New Testament, and Henry Dobbins carried his girlfriend’s pantyhose wrapped around …show more content…
Surrounding Jimmy Cross with symbols, O’Brien practically leads his readers to this conclusion. In the initial description of Cross, O’Brien tells readers that Cross carries a compass, maps, code books, binoculars, and a .45 caliber pistol (O’Brien 5). Expert readers immediately understand that the compass and map symbolizes a leader since these are items only leaders carry. Significantly, however, O’Brien also mentions Martha, and the items he carries that are from Martha: ‘love’ letters, the stone, and two photographs. At the time of Ted Lavender death, it was Martha, Cross thought about, and not his troops. Immediately following Lavender’s death, Cross leads his men into the village of Than Khe and burns everything. Later that night, Cross also burns his letters from Martha (O’Brien 15-16). This might not strike a person as important, but as Foster says, “Actions can also by symbolic” (Foster 112). Burning an object means rebirth, analogous to a phoenix being reborn in fire. It also represents the letting go of an object/person akin to the Norse tradition of sending their dead to sea, and burning the boat. As a result of Lavender’s death, Cross leads his men to burn the village to appease his guilt of his thoughtlessness. The burning of Martha’s letter signifies that Cross is ready to let go of his one-sided love for Martha and is reborn, from a love-struck teenager to a jaded man. “[Cross] was realistic about it. There was that new hardness in his stomach. He loved her but he hated her.”(O’Brien 23). Furthermore, O’Brien even adds fog/rain symbols to the scene where Cross comes to this realization which, according to Foster, signals confusion (Foster 71-75). The fog, therefore, symbolizes Cross’s inner turmoil about Lavender’s death, and the rain pounding on his back only adds weight to the guilt he will forever carry. Without

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