Question

'The Things They Carried' Clarification?
I want to clear up a misunderstanding about the character Jimmy Cross.
During the war he blames himself for being too obsessed with Martha, leading to the death of two comrades. But after the war, does he finally get past his guilt? Or does he still blame himself for what happened to Ted Lavender and Kiowa? Please cite specific text if you can!

Answer 1

I don't remember much of the text but I do remember that Cross lost it when Kiowa died. The chapter where they go to wade in the field and muck and such, he is constantly blaming himself. But I don't think it matters if he stopped blaming himself...because he was already in the healing process at that point. Yes, he was directing the blame onto himself and going back into his memories regretting his rash decision to even join. But here he starts to draft a letter to one of Kiowa's family members (I don't recall who). So I think that, in "writing" that letter mentally, even during the war he has already begun to cope. Most war survivors blame themselves for all of their lives. It's how they handle it; and we see that he is very into mementos and such, and maybe it parallels O'Brien's reasons for writing...to cope. To somehow channel all of the feelings into something tangible, like a letter in Cross's situation.