The Things They Carried

Poor young Lieutenant Cross. The man was not actually a man, but a boy. Yet he was expected to keep a platoon of infantrymen in line who may or may not have been even younger than himself. The opening few chapters of The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien seem to deal exclusively with the character of Lt. O’Brian. These characterizations are of the most interest to me. Young Lt. Cross, still a young man himself is expected to keep order and discipline intact within a platoon of light infantrymen who spend much of their time out in the bush where they are free to dress, behave, and inhale whatever their leadership is willing to look the other way to allow them to do.

The issues with Lt. Cross are slightly different than the average drafted soldier. Lt. Cross was not drafted, as an officer he voluntarily chose to serve his country. Yet, by doing so he in effect sacrifices his own happiness to defend the land he was born into. At the end of the second chapter I have to admit that a particular sentence made me break down, O’Brian relates a meeting he had with Jimmy Cross after the war where they spoke of Martha and how ultimately she had no interest in him. Cross then says, “It doesn’t matter, I still love her.” I had to stop reading at this point and there was some physical reactions to the sentence. He gave up everything, all his chances at happiness to serve in an unpopular army, in an unpopular government, in an unpopular war. Why did he do it? Because why not him? In doing so he gave up his chances at being happy with the women he loved. Yet he feels little regret, he has accepted that she will never love him and he will never be happy with her. He has taken up the cause and paid the price for it.

I sympathize with Cross, he was just a regular person who felt he wasn't anything special and therefore served his country in a war. Yet he gave up everything the average person would consider important to do so, that being true happiness.