Martha Character Analysis in The Things They Carried

The love interest of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. They went on a single date in college. She sent him letters in the war and a pebble for good luck. After Vietnam, they see each other again at a college reunion. She never marries and spends her time during and after the war abroad, working as a nurse.

Martha Quotes in The Things They Carried

The The Things They Carried quotes below are all either spoken by Martha or refer to Martha. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

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For a few moments he considered asking her to his room, but instead he laughed and told her how back in college he'd almost done something very brave. It was after seeing Bonnie and Clyde, he said, and on this same spot he'd almost picked her up and carried her to his room and tied her to the bed and put his hand on her knee and just held it there all night long. It came close, he told her—he'd almost done it. Martha shut her eyes. She crossed her arms at her chest, as if suddenly cold, rocking slightly, then after a time she looked at him and said she was glad he hadn't tried it. She didn't understand how men could do those things. What things? he asked, and Martha said, The things men do. Then he nodded. It began to form. Oh, he said, those things.

Related Characters: (speaker), ,

Page Number and Citation: 27

Explanation and Analysis:

Martha Character Timeline in The Things They Carried

The timeline below shows where the character Martha appears in The Things They Carried. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross of Alpha Company is carrying letters from a girl named Martha that he loves from back at college, though he doesn't believe she loves him. He... (full context)

Lieutenant Jimmy Cross walks with pictures of Martha all over Vietnam. He has two pictures of her: one is of her standing against... (full context)

...Ted Lavender died, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross got a pebble as a good luck charm from Martha. She said in her letter that she found it on the Jersey shoreline and it... (full context)

...the tunnel when he gets concerned about Lee Strunk, but he can only think of Martha and the tunnel collapsing on the both of them. (full context)

The morning after Ted Lavender dies, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross burns Martha's letters in his foxhole. Then he burns the two photographs. He decides he hates her.... (full context)

Eventually, O'Brien feels like the mood has lightened enough for him to ask about Martha. Cross stands up and returns with a picture of Martha playing volleyball. Cross asks if... (full context)

At the reunion, Cross learned that Martha had become a Lutheran missionary and a nurse who had done service in Ethiopia, Guatemala,... (full context)

Cross tells Martha that he loves her, but she keeps walking and doesn't answer. He walks her back... (full context)

Cross tells Tim O'Brien that he still loves Martha. O'Brien tries to keep the conversation away from Martha for the rest of Cross's stay,... (full context)

...over for a moment, then agrees to let O'Brien write the story, saying that maybe Martha will read it and come back to him. He makes O'Brien promise to depict him... (full context)

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Martha Character Analysis

Martha Quotes in The Things They Carried

Martha Character Timeline in The Things They Carried

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