The_Things_They_Carried

The Things They Carried In the short story “The Things They Carried” Tim O’Brien faces Jimmy Cross with the problem of surviving while fighting in Vietnam. While trying to maintain his sanity, Jimmy struggles between his old self and the person he has to become. Jimmy has to make some difficult decisions while in his tour, and most of them come to his attention after his friend Ted Lavender is killed. Jimmy’s main struggle in dealing with his friends death is to figure out a way he can become a better leader. He wants to lead his troop with confidence and preciseness. Before his friend’s death, Jimmy had constructed a bulwark to separate him from the rest of the troop. Jimmy was in his own world, mainly back in New Jersey with Martha, but sometimes in a fantasy world where nothing felt real and he would do amazing things like fly over Vietnam waving the whole madness goodbye. His misconception of fantasy and reality is one of the first things that he changes about himself in order to become a better leader. Making this decision was things, carried, jimmy, martha, needed, something, men, everyone, world, way, war, one, become, because, while, weight, time, think, pictures, person, out, make, lives, lavender, kiowa, himself, felt, fear, fantasy, even, cross, vietnam, unite, trying, true