The Dilemma of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross in Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” Essay Example for Free

The Dilemma of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross in Tim O’Brien’s â€Å"The Things They Carried† Essay In Tim O’Brien’s â€Å"The Things They Carried† First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is a 24 year old young man in love with a girl named Martha, who is thrust into the jungles of Vietnam. Carrying â€Å"the responsibility for the lives of his men† but distracted by his fantasies of Martha, tragedy strikes his platoon and Ted Lavender is shot and killed. (p. 97). Lieutenant Cross grieves for Lavender, for Martha, for himself, as he curtails his daydreams â€Å"determined to perform his duties firmly and without negligence. † (p. 106). PARAGRAPH The war was gruesome, relentless, monotonous, and purposeless. The men of Lieutenant Cross’s platoon carried everything they needed (and some things they did not) on their persons as they â€Å"humped† it through the jungles of Vietnam (p. 98). They carried food, clothing, bedding, weapons, photos, diseases, parasites, wounded and dead comrades, memories, reputations, dreams, and â€Å"the common secret of cowardice barely restrained† (p. 105). They carried things for many different reasons: choice, necessity, entertainment, superstition, or as a function of rank or field specialty. PARAGRAPH Among his things, Lieutenant Cross carried memories, letters, pictures, and a good luck charm from a young college student named Martha. Although they dated before the war, they only kissed briefly, and her letters carried news of a â€Å"separate-but-together quality† they shared (p. 99). He knew that just because she signed her letters love Martha did not mean she was in love with him, but he was hopeful. He often lost himself in fantasies of her, wondering about her virginity and what â€Å"her truest feelings were† (p. 99). He moved slowly and distractedly finding it difficult to keep his mind on war and his men’s security. His mind continuously wandered to thoughts of â€Å"Martha’s smooth young face, thinking he loved her more than anything, more than his men, and now Ted Lavender was dead because he loved her so much and could not stop thinking about her† (p. 99). He was young and in love and could not help it but he was ashamed and hated himself too. PARAGRAPH Among his things, Ted Lavender who was scared, carried tranquilizers, premium dope and extra ammunition, necessities for him. On the day he was shot and killed, he had just popped a tranquilizer and gone off to pee. Caught by a bullet to the head, in the act of zipping up, he went down instantly, under an exceptional burden of â€Å"unweighed fear† and extra bullets (p. 99). PARAGRAPH â€Å"The morning after Ted Lavender died, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha’s letters. Then he burned the two photographs† (p. 105). He realized that daydreams of unrequited love had no place in this nightmare world he called reality. He knew that this sentimental gesture could not burn the blame he felt for Lavender’s death, but perhaps it would keep the rest of the platoon alive. PARAGRAPH Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’s dilemma arose from the natural impulses of a young man in love coupled with the incessant responsibilities of a combat officer. Following Lavender’s death he realized â€Å"that his obligation was not to be loved but to lead† (p. 107). A heavy burden to carry indeed. He vowed to himself diligence to his officer’s duties, fully intending to run a tight ship regardless of the complaints of his men.

Standardized Tests :: Standardized Testing Essays

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Standardized tests are very common throughout the United States. They are used to measure students’ academic performances in school. These tests vary from state to state in all grade levels. However, these tests are believed to be biased towards those students who come from higher-class neighborhoods, simply because they have more educational resources. â€Å"The absence of standards virtually guarantees stratified resources and access to knowledge, based upon income, color of skin, and the community and neighborhood in which one lives† (French, 2003). The resources in the suburban areas differ from those in the urban areas, because of the gap within the difference of incomes. Families living in suburban neighborhoods have a bigger income, which enables them to have more resources than those living in urban neighborhoods. Most educational resources come from taxes, which plays a big part in the gap between urban and suburban neighborhoods.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This gap causes a disadvantage to those individuals living in lower class neighborhoods, because they do not see or have as many resources as those living in the suburbs. Because of the lack of resources that are provided to those living in the lower-class neighborhoods they are not as prepared for the standardized tests as their higher-class counterparts. These standardized tests are seeing new standards every couple of years or so. Some of the new standards include, students receiving a certain score in the tested subject areas in order to refrain from failing and being retained in the same grade, or even going to summer school just to be promoted. Are these standards helping or hurting?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is hard to say whether these tests are efficient in assessing a student’s knowledge. There have been studies done that shows how students perform contributes to a number of factors. Students are individuals just as adults and can easily slip up on a test, just as many adults have done because of numerous reasons. They suffer from stress, lack of sleep, how they are feeling, whether they ate, and many other reasons. â€Å"These influences most dramatically affect low-income students and students of color† (French, 2003). From the rise of immigration there have been tests (IQ and Stanford-Binet) that were used to sort and track students based on race and income. According to a study it has been concluded that these tests will continue to hinder the ability of Black and Latino students to graduate from high school (Orfield and Wald, 2000; Haney, 1999; McNeil, 2000).

Being Unemployed Can Cause People

Being unemployed can cause people to lose their self-respectPopulation in Indonesia each year increases, also it is increasing the number of working-age, but it is not offset by the icrease in job vacancy. Large population of productive-age amount is not comparable with the extent job vacancy of unemployment, it also gave rise to social ills such as: robber, begger, pickpockets, vagrant, etc. Based on Psychological aspect, unemployment relative don’t have confidence in theirselves, it can be described on several examples : People who have a higher education but have not got a job, unemployment that caused by laid-off-employment (PHK), and people who don’t have any skills and low education. People who have a higher education but have not got a job, it because of some reasons: first they haven’t got a chance, second the job vacancy is not match with their education and the expertise that they had. It may not be a problem for a while but longer this causes Psychological insecurity for them, especially when dealing with friends who are already successful. Unemployment that caused by laid-off-employment (PHK) also trigger them to lose their self-respect. It causes Psychological burden that is shame because dischanged then they hard to get job again. It made them feel supressed by any condition. People who don’t have any skills and low education. This is a kind of people are relatively difficult to get a job either they want or deserve, it because they hard to adapt with the environment and lack of relation. In this case , skill and relation are important. From the examples above: People who have a higher education but have not got a job, Unemployment that caused by laid-off-employment (PHK), and People who don’t have any skills and low education, those are causes unemployment loses their self-respect. As you know that skills, education, relation and environment are the main capital in getting a job. Those not only who don’t have the skill or education as needed but also don’t have any relations or education will not have an opportunity to get a job. So, if we don’t want to be unemployment, from now on we should study hard, make a good relation as much as we can, and handle our emotion to avoid self-respect become our personality. Then, if we have been being unemployment, we should believe our skill, don’t ever give up with our condition, and learn from anyone or anything around us.

Industrial Training Technical Report - 3845 Words

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Praise to Allah SWT the Most Merciful and the Most Gracious, I have successfully completed my 10 weeks of Industrial Training that begins on June 25, 2012 until September 1, 2012. I also would like to extend my thankfulness to my parents, Mohd Kassim Abd Rahman and Nismah Hussin and my siblings for their never ending support in terms of moral and financial support. As for my Academic Supervisor, Dr. Lim Yee Yan, I thank you for your reprimand and guidance during my training and the completion of my technical report. Last but not least, I would like to extend my big appreciation to the Managing Director of KATA General Engineering SDN BHD, Mr. Arfan Hj Tengah and my Industrial Supervisor, Mr. Majeri Kuhal for giving me a†¦show more content†¦| Figure 2.1 Activity Workflow | 1.3 Objectives of Industrial Training Industrial Training is one of the prerequisite modules that need to be completed and passed by every Civil Engineering students in Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) in order to allow them to get their Bachelor in engineering (Civil) with Honours. The purpose of this module is to expose students with the real working environment and gain experience before they are facing it themselves in the future. In the perspective of KATA General Engineering SDN BHD, taking students to undergo their Industrial Training under their roof is mainly to expose students with the industry of Engineering and construction. In other words, students are exposed and trained; 1. Roles of an Engineer in an engineering and construction organization. 2. Management skills, technical skills, communication skills and the ability of solving problems. 3. Professionalism and ethics in engineering and construction industry. CHAPTER 2 WORK EXPERIENCE 2.1 Allocation and Assignation During my Industrial Training, I have been assigned to undergo my Industrial Training in one of the company undergoing project located at Kg. Banting Sindumin, Sipitang, Sabah. The description of the project can be referred below; | Project | :Show MoreRelatedCase Study ‘Technical Instruments Pty Ltd’983 Words   |  4 PagesCase Study ‘Technical Instruments Pty Ltd’ Table of contents 1. Introduction 2. Analyse strategic and operational plans 3. Consult line and senior managers to identify human resources needs 4. Develop options for delivery of human resource services 5. Comply with legislative requirements 6. Develop and agree on strategies 7. 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