War and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in The Things They Carried by Tim Obrien

We have all seen or read about the political and social upheavals caused by war. Some may have even experienced it first-hand. Throughout history war has had negative psychological implications on those effected. However, there is no greater negative impact of war than the psychological and emotional turmoil that it causes individual soldiers.

One of the three physical things Jimmy Cross carried were maps, since he is a lieutenant in the Vietnam war, it symbolizes that he is a leader with leadership qualities. It also shows that he had skills to maintain soldiers during time of war and that he is a valuable person to the other soldiers to stay alive, holding the responsibility of the lives of his men. The other thing Jimmy carried were letters from Martha. They were not love letters, but Jimmy Cross was hoping for her love, so he kept the letters and took them everywhere he went. He was aware of the fact that she did not love him the way he loved her but kept the letters anyways, symbolizing hope, which is a great leadership skill. After a days march, he would

War impacts the soldier in more than the physical sense. It can also change someone psychologically and can cause PTSD. The Things They Carried is a book about the Vietnam war and what Tim O’Brien went through. The article 4 Kent State Students Killed By Troops is about a group of College students having a peaceful protest turned Violent. The Vietnam Veterans Still Have PTSD 40 Years After War article is about the horrendous things nurses had gone through when they were drafted into the Vietnam War. The Vietnam soldiers experienced PTSD, the Vietnam Veterans Still Have PTSD 40 Years After War article explained signs, symptoms, and treatments for the soldiers with PTSD. War not only affects soldiers physically due to injuries sustained in combat, but, more so the mental injuries sustained that no one can see.

Many soldiers can relate to developing post traumatic disorder because of war. The article “For Soldiers With PTSD, A Profound Daily Struggle” discusses the story of Dexter Pitt who was deployed to Iraq in the year 2004. Pitt was diagnosed with PTSD after a bomb injured him while in Iraq, which left him with many serious injuries that affected his physical health. Pitt shares the story of when his cousin was consistently very energetic, jumping around and bothering him after returning from war and had hit his injured arm. According to page 1 of the article, Pitt says, “I just lost it. I blacked out… picked him up and punched him in his chest as hard as I could.” He was over reacting and made the situation worse than what it should be, and

In the novel The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, the character Jimmy Cross carries the heart of his love, Martha, with him as he does his service in Vietnam. Jimmy Cross is the lieutenant of a platoon in Vietnam, where he has trouble focusing on the war. Instead, he thinks of Martha, a woman he met and fell in love with before he was drafted. Unable to think of anything else, he finds himself thinking of her knee which he had touched in a dark theater, or who took the pictures of her that she sent to him. Although he is supposed to be in charge of his platoon and making sure to protect his men, his mind keeps wandering back to Martha. After the death of one of his soldiers, Ted Lavender, he tries to change this. Jimmy Cross's feelings

When he was just a sophomore in college, Cross signed up to join the Reserve Officers Training Corps. At the time he did not fully understand the effects that this decision would have on him and only registered to gain some credits. His friends signing up for the course also greatly influenced his decision to become an officer. Once on the battlefield in Vietnam however, his inexperience is obvious and Jimmy Cross second-guesses almost everything he does. In the early stages of the war, Cross is very distracted by his daydreams and fantasies about a girl back home, Martha. They were dating, and Jimmy Cross imagines talking to her and staring at her pictures more than he actually focuses on the war. His distracted nature and lack of focus leads to platoon members being killed. After the death of Ted Lavender, Jimmy Cross realizes that he has been selfish and must help his men to survive the war. He shows a lot of maturity by destroying the photos and letters that he received from Martha and also throwing the good-luck pebble she gave him away. After he does this, Jimmy Cross becomes stricter on the men, but also a better leader. His failure to protect Ted Lavender causes Jimmy Cross to feel more determined to excel as a leader and protector to his troops. In The Things They Carried, Jimmy Cross represents all of

As a team leader Jimmy Cross should protect his team and perform his duties without negligence. However, as O’Brien points out, “he was just a kid at war” at twenty-two years of age. At the begging of the story he represented a weak and immature person, who obsessed with fantasies of Martha. Mentally, he was not ready to be in the war and in his mind he constantly recalled sweet moments of his previous peaceful life. Jimmy Cross, as the rest of the soldiers, carried emotional and material things to escape the thoughts of the war. The emotional thing he carried was Martha, an English major at Mount Sebastian. The material things he carried were her photos, her good-luck pebble and letters she sent him. He could not think of anything else. He did not realize the responsibilities he carried for the lives of his men. He pictured himself somewhere far from the war, “walking barefoot along the Jersey shore, with Martha, carrying nothing” (O’Brien, 488). It could be explained by his young age and by lack of life experience. It seems that Martha represented the brightest memory he could recall from his earlier life. According to Smith, “Martha was a psychological escape from the war, field discipline and military duty” (Smith, 25). On the other hand, Martha belongs to the past memories which not related to the war, therefore, she never mentions the war in her

In “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, Lt. Jimmy Cross is mentally lost in the war by his love for Martha until death and guilt pull him back to reality. He becomes increasingly infatuated with Martha’s letters as they become his sole connection to home and happiness. Lt. Jimmy Cross’s thoughts about Martha and what she is doing while he is away in another world, start to overpower his duties at war. He feels guilt and shame after the death of one of his men and decides to burn the letters to stay focused. Lt. Cross’s only escape is through Martha’s letters, someone he loves but does not love him back, after he experiences death he feels guilt and fear which forces him to throw away his love for Martha.

Platoon leader Jimmy Cross' carries a lot of physical items with stories behind them. Including, letters from and english major named Martha who he's in love with although she's not in love with him. This symbolizes Cross as an average human being with feelings that pull him though the scaring war he was deposited in. Which is important to his story as he is a leader who is meant to be deep-seated and powerful. Jimmy also owns two pictures of Martha, in one she's playing volley ball. Every night Jimmy reads her letters and looks at his pictures thinking about Martha. He tells himself he thinks she was a virgin and it shows us he frequently thinks about her. Cross visualizes himself with Martha to

Cross then explains that he met Martha again at a reunion and she gave him the photo after he told her he burned the last one which is why he has it later on in life. Cross tells O’Brien that he still loves her although she does not feel the same way. O’Brien says that soldiers carried intangible things but these things “had tangible weight.” In Jimmy Cross’s case

First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is a very important character in “The Things They Carried” . Jimmy Cross was the Platoon leader for Alpha Company. Cross it just like some other people in the war, he was drafted. It was sad that a innocent teen had to be sent to war to be forced to fight. Though he doesn't want to be here, he does his hardest to help win this fight and protect his men. In the beginning of the book Cross has trouble leading his men because he is always thinking about this girl back home named Martha that he is obsessed with. He carries around pictures of Martha that she had sent to him and a pebble that she gave him. Cross obsession with Martha is how he feels comfort but, eventually it causes him neverending guilt and "He had loved

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental trauma disorder that occurs when someone experiences a traumatic event such as war, abuse, terrorism, violent crimes, or similar events. The main side effects can be reliving the event in the REM stage of sleep where you dream and your brain is most active. Another symptom might be avoiding situations, similar to the event, which might trigger memories of the event. You may think more negatively of your life which might lead to forms of depression. You also might be jittery and always alert for danger due to a spike in adrenaline which stimulates your body . Not only adults can have

Throughout the entire book, different expressions of love are shown through the soldiers actions, either toward a girl, families, friends, or even themselves. The reader can witness the romantic story between Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and Martha as described by O’brien. Reading between the lines one can name their relationship as convenient rather than romantic. Although they seemed to love each other, the reality is that they loved the idea of having each other. Cross liked the fact of having Martha because she was his source of power to keep fighting, his reason to survive. He wanted to feel that staying alive will have its reward. On the other hand, the author of the book also centred on the relationship between two of the soldiers. Their friendship was so strong because they loved andrespected each other. Another kind of love is the one that the author hiself expressed while taking the decision on the river. The reason why he was running away to Canada was because he loved his ideals. However, he decided to go back because he loved his family and his country more and felt ashamed for betraying them as he stated, “I would go to war- I would kill and maybe die- because I was embarrassed not to” (O’brien 57). The book itself also explains how the soldiers would carry everything for love. They would carry shame, guilt and regrets just if that helps them to survive and return back to their homes with their

The human brain/psyche is (a phenomenon that we as humans barely understand) one the of the most fascinating and puzzling parts of the body. It controls every action, from the most basic to the very advanced. As people grow, so do their minds, shaped by their surroundings and the various events they experience. One of these very influential events is war: a rampant atrocity that puts people in situations requiring morally questioning decisions. War is a contributing factor to the growing rate of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is defined as “an anxiety disorder that is triggered by an event such as violence, a car accident, a natural disaster, and more”(Goldberg). Many soldiers experience this disease as they return from the war