Weblog 10: The Things They Carried

What is Martha’s significance to Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and how does she affect his performance in the war?

            At the beginning of the short story The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross was obsessed with a girl named Martha. He was madly in love with her, and he desperately wanted her to love him back but he knew that that was not the case. He was so obsessed with her that he had a hard time focusing on the war because he was so caught up in his thoughts about her.  “On occasion he would yell at his men to spread out the column, to keep their eyes open, but then he would slip away into daydreams, just pretending, walking barefoot along the Jersey shore, with Martha, carrying nothing.” (372) He was constantly thinking about her subconsciously. “And then suddenly, without willing it, he was thinking about Martha.” (373)

            Later on, his daydreams cost him the life of one of his men. He carried “the responsibility for the lives of his men,” (369) but because he was thinking about Martha, Ted Lavender died. Although Ted Lavenders death wasn’t completely Lieutenant Cross’s fault, he was their leader and he had to carry the responsibility of their lives. He was partially responsible for Ted Lavenders’ death. After Ted Lavenders’ death, Lieutenant Cross is so filled with guilt that he burns all of Martha’s letters and photos. “He felt shame. He hated himself. 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.” (377) This shows how Lieutenant Cross felt about himself after Lavenders death. This was his turning point. He decided to love his men more than Martha after Lavenders death. He also realized that “she did not love him and never would.” (378) He also considers his past love for Martha as fantasies. After Ted Lavenders’ death, Lieutenant Cross begins to hate Martha. He realizes that “his obligation was not to be loved but to lead.” (384)

            I think that O’Brien purposely included Martha in this short story to compare and contrast the balance of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’ priorities, and to show how his personality changes throughout the story.

Weblog 9: Gryphon

Charles Baxter, the author of the short story, Gryphon, utilizes conventional and unconventional ideas in order to emphasize the uniqueness Miss. Ferenczi’s personality.

The children were very conventional. For example, they felt that they had to always follow a set schedule. First, they had to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. When Miss. Ferenczi told the children “No, no allegiance pledging on the premises today,” the children seemed surprised and disappointed. This shows how the children felt that there was only one set way to do things. Also, during lunch time, the children found it odd that Miss. Ferenczi ate in the classroom with them. The conventional way was for the substitute teacher to eat in the teacher’s lounge with other teachers. “Miss Ferenczi, you don’t have to eat with us. You can eat with the other teachers. There’s a teacher’s lounge.”

            On the other hand, Miss Ferenczi was very unconventional. She had many peculiar and bizarre ideas. For example, she told the children that sometimes, “six times eleven can be considered to be sixty-eight” because “it’s more interesting that way.” This shows how Miss Ferenczi had a wide imagination. Also, Miss Ferenczi told the children that she had seen a gryphon. This was obviously not true because gryphons are mystical creatures, but this also shows Miss Ferenczi’s unconventional ideas. Later on, she begins to talk on and on about things that seem almost impossible. For example, she says that “Beethoven had not been deaf; it was a trick to make himself famous, and it worked.” She also said “God kissed me.” These things were very unordinary and strange things to say. Most substitute teachers would not have said these kinds of things.

            In conclusion Charles Baxter made use of the conventional and unconventional to make a comparison between Miss Ferenczi and the children. The children were extremely conventional while Miss Ferenczi was extremely unconventional.