Moral responsibility and leadership in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried

¶ … Things They Carried is known as the novel and also as a book containing stories which are interrelated to each other. Written by Tim O'Brien, the book is considered to be a book representing complex ideas and perspectives hence presenting a complex variety of literary cultures. The writer puts forward in front of his readers a very interesting memoir in front of his readers and at the same time also presents writers biography wrapped in one. He makes the reading experience interesting by creating a fictional hero who adopts the writers name and narrates the story. To completely understand and appreciate this literary masterpiece it is important to understand that even though the events in the book might be true but it still stands as an aspiration hence it is a pure work of fiction rather than a non-fictional, historic account of events.

The hero or the story narrator in the book is "Tim O'Brien" who happens to be a Vietnam war veteran and an aspiring middle ages writer. The most constant theme of the story is that O'Brien tries to remember and re create the events that took place in the past especially his time in the army and his service in the Vietnamese war. During this process he also tries to make sense of these memories and asks many important questions regarding them (Calloway, 1995).

He accomplishes this through a completely fascinating series of auto-biographies series of stories which are semi-linked with each other, in these stories "O'Brien" tries to put light on the characters he served with in the war. He describes the men individually for instance he describes this one Lt. Jimmy Cross who is ill experienced not fully equipped and is made the leader of the Alpha Company. Years after the war, the two spent an afternoon together remembering their friends and those who were killed (Herzog, 1992).

Character Sketch

At the beginning of the book, Jimmy Cross is shown as a lieutenant who is distracted because of his attraction to a girl back home while he is at war in Vietnam, it gets worse enough for it to cloud his leadership skills with his men. Its gets bad enough for him to allow his men to smoke, drugs, drop important things during long marches and make jokes at each others expenses in very carefree manner. His irresponsible attitude towards the war and his men comes to a halt when one of his close men Ted Lavender is shot dead during a cross fire (Bonn 1994).

Character Analysis

The character analysis for Lt. Cross involves both realistic or practical elements as well as theoretical ones. In the book we see him functioning as a complete symbol of war, especially in the context of meaningful foundations. Just like in warfare Cross is also described as a character with a lack of distinct rationale. In theory Lt. Cross as the leader of the Alpha unit should be that of a head strong leader who should be motivated and focused enough to provide his troops with strong and clear commands on how to gain advantage over the enemy. However in case of the Vietnam war it becomes impossible for Cross to gain that kind of leadership for his unit because the object or the end result of the war itself is confusing and not thoroughly defines. Similar to battles and operations that constituted the war; Cross fails to demonstrate the clear ability to fulfill his role (Coffey, 1990).

Cross is portrayed as a weak leader because the traditional training he had received is contrast with what he experiences in the war. His training taught him all about the stuff which went that high on priorities when it came to war tactics for instance, marching in line, reading a map, keeping the guns clean, his training also included following the already decided procedures and the basic operating system which was standard, however the situation in Vietnam demanded a more on the spot thinking plan with more focus on gaining grounds with the enemy rather than marching in lines and keeping ones guns clean. In theory he was the leader of the Alpha Company but in practical implementation was never a true member of it, his tactic if separating himself from his men so that his authority could be established never worked. He is shown in a constant battle with himself where he knows that he is the leader of his company but at the same time he is also afraid to acknowledge the role given to him. For instance, Lt. Cross attempts to persuade himself of his own competence by relying on standard operating procedure after Lavender is killed as a means to exonerate himself from feelings of personal culpability in Lavender's death as well as his pathetic neediness for Martha's love (Karnow, 1983).

Another flaw that is obvious in the character of Cross are the fluctuation on his personal and emotional part and his inability due these factors to lead his team. He is also shown to be homesick as his jealousy guards the picture of Martha who is not his girlfriend, but he keeps the picture so that his link with homeland can remain throughout. However he fails to understand one simple fact that love and war are interlinked, rather he chooses love so that he can escape from the bitter reality of war (Bonn, 1994).

Cross is a foil to "O'Brien" because Timmy and Linda share a true love story and Cross and Martha does not. Martha is the object of Cross's sexual desire, Linda is not the subject of O'Brien's; Martha prevents Cross from being a soldier, Linda teaches Timmy about death. O'Brien's story is a true love story; Cross's is a war story; the primary function Cross serves in the novel is to demonstrate how sometimes stories are not cathartic, but sources of denial.