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Christopher John Labbate
Professor Dominique Zino
March 27, 2011
Blog Post #7
Lieutenant Cross’s Loss of Vision
In the “The Things They Carried,” one could see that Tim O’Brian and Tuan’s Chapter;
“Intimate Experiences of Place” are closely intertwined. Within O’Brian’s short story, first
Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and the pictures of the young woman he loves, Martha, greatly
influence his judgment and decision making towards his platoon. Although Cross carries these
pictures to help him get through the Vietnam War, many other soldiers also carry personal
objects as well. Some of these personal objects would be canned peaches, dental products, soap,
comic books, a sling shot, girlfriends’ panties, and much, much more.
One could see how these personal objects help comfort the soldiers, Jimmy Cross in
particular: “Lieutenant Cross gazed at the tunnel. But he was not there. He was buried with
Martha under the white sand at the Jersey shore.” (O’Brian 600) Jimmy Cross is so distracted by
his love for this woman back at home; the reader could see that such objects as the two photos
and the special pebble that Martha sent him have quite significant importance. Tuan states that
“Hometown is an intimate place,” (144) and “Intimate experiences, whether of people or of
things, are difficult to make publics,” (147) which are two main ideas that are implemented in
“The Things They Carried.” After reading the short story, one could notice that Jimmy Cross
now carries the pain and suffering of the lost life of Ted Lavender, who was shot and killed on
his command. It is important to understand that in the beginning, Cross was dreaming of being
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with Martha and to leave this God forsaken war. Some of the inner personal experiences that
Cross thinks about is her innocence, her being a virgin, him kissing her on her lips, the white
gym shorts she was wearing, and taking her to see Bonnie and Clyde at the movie theatre. All
these intimate, yet personal experiences builds up for the reason that Cross was so stuck in a
dream that he was distracted from his command of his platoon.
Hometown is significant in Cross’s mind because he misses the one that he loved back
home; the fact that he will probably never see her again due to the chances of dying. Martha
may have been alive with him through the photos and the special good luck pebble, but
unfortunately did more harm than good. It distracted Cross from his leadership, his personal
relationships with his soldiers, and the result of Lavender’s death. “He had loved Martha more
than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would
have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war.” (O’Brian 602) One major note
that I would like to make on page 603 is the fact that Cross on a personal level will never be able
to share his hurt and pain to anyone but himself. Kiowa, who keeps talking about how he saw
Lavender drop to his death, cannot feel the same emotion in which Cross feels. The reason for
this is like Tuan states in his book, everyone has a different intimate experience within objects, in
space and throughout places.
In the end, we see the dramatic change in plot as the resolution is put into effect
when Cross realizes that Martha and him are in two different realities. Cross explains to himself
that Martha never really asked about the war nor ever truly expressed her love for him. Martha
was not a virgin, nor did he care for that matter. Cross finally comes to the realization that
Martha is back home and he is now fighting the war with others that he must build relations and
form of command with. On a final note, intimate and personal objects within Cross remained
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intact until the death of one of his own soldiers happens in his platoon. One could see the
negativity of the things that Jimmy Cross carried, but could also see the positive beginning of
him carrying his platoon to further survival.