the things they carried-4

in this part of the the book now that im reading in from page 24-32. in the first few pages to about page 26 jimmy cross talks about how he hates Martha but he loves he and he tries to forget about her. Then he says how he was going to get up the rest of his men and do their march all throughout the day though it might be harder that day because it was raining hard and it also made all the things they carried alot of heavier then usually.  On page 27 i read the four page chapter called Love. In this chapeter Jimmy cross goes to an old friends home from the war and discuss about what happened and the drank cofee and smoked cigarettes the whole day. When they would talk about things that troubled them they would be silent for a long time and they change the cofee to gin. Jimmy cross's friend also asked him about Martha and what ever happened. He had said after the war they ran into eachother in 1979 at a college reunion and he spent the whole day with her about 8 or 9 hours. He told her a few times he loved her but she was just say nothing back. He said that she had told him that day she finished nursing school and she had been to different countries helping out people. He said that there was a banquet and a dance that day and they did those things together. Also after he told her he loved her she would stay silent and look at her watch and say it was getting late. So then he walked her back to her dormitory and dropped her off. He said so badly he wish he could have brang her back to his room and spend time with her but he couldnt. Then after he told the story Cross's friend told him to write a book or story about what happened and as he got into his car Cross's friend said to him make sure you make me out to be handsome and great and the best platoon leader ever!

the things they carried-3

In this part of the book he talks more about Martha and his love for her but now he hates her because he loves her but he doesnt think she loves him back. He took all of the letters from her that he got and he burned them. it is a love hate type of thing because he wants to be with her so bad but he cant because hes in the war he wants to hate her but he cant because he knows he truly love hers with all his heart.

the things they carried-2

 In this part of the book which is from page 12 to 20 it takes more about the men and the things that they do, carry, and so on. Like it says that lieutenant Jimmy Cross carry's his lucky pebble that he got from Martha which is the woman that he loves so much. Dave Jensen carried a rabbits foot. Norman Bowker carried a thumb that he had obtained from his friend Mitchell Sanders. It was cut off a VC corpse from a boy about fifteen or sixteen.   They had found him at the bottom of an irrigation ditch burned. When one of the men died and lieutenant Cross felt that it was his fault when Ted Lavender died because he wasn't paying attention and he was blanked out thinking about Martha.

The things they carried

 This book is about a Vietnam veteran who writes stories about him and his friend and about what happened when he was in the war and all that was going on. im on page 12 right now and so far mostly what ive found out is his friends names, the supplies that they carried and the girl Martha who he is in love with so much. In the story so far he talks about how he always forgets about the war and thinks about her and he blanks out and dazes sometimes in the middle of things. Like for example in one part of the story so far he went into a tunnel to look for his friend lee strunk but when he goes into the tunnel he blanks out and thinks about walking on the jersey shore with Martha. Also he always talks about his friend Ted Lavender who had got shot earlier. He talks about how he was a bigger man than everyone and he carried a bigger gun which was the m60 instead of the standard issue m16. He carried extra ammunition, extra food, and 6 to 7 ounces of dope. When he was shot right in the head all of the men put him in his poncho and they sat there by his side waiting for the chopper to come pick him up while smoking his dope. The man that went into the tunnel that was Lee Strunk made it out alive of the tunnel and all of the men laughed. One of them said "Right out of the grave fuckin' zombie". So far this is how far i got and this is what the story is about