Term Papers on Released From The Grip Of What He Carried: Freedom Birds

Term Paper Title	Released From The Grip Of What He Carried: Freedom Birds
# of Words	1099
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.4

Released From the Grip of What He Carried: Freedom Birds

     "They dreamed of freedom birds.  At night, on guard, staring into the dark,
they were carried away by jumbo jets.  They felt the rush of takeoff.  Gone!
They yelled. (286).  "Freedom bird" an appropriate term for the jumbo jets that
take the soldiers from their tour because it gives them the freedom from what
has been holding them back.  Throughout the story, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross
has his mind everywhere but on his infantry he is supposed to be leading on the
tour.  The story shows how even the smallest memory, letter, or picture can draw
anyone from reality.  It shows several men's struggle to overcome their
predisposed conscience and deal with reality.
     It has become one of the most common occurrences in any war.
Grandfathers, uncles, and  even brothers have told how they would recall as they
were fighting, they themselves carried the unnecessary on a tour.  The seemingly
innocent picture, the numerous letters sent, and even thoughts of what it was
like to be home, all of a loved one is now shown to have an impact.  As seen
with Jimmy Cross, some men even went to a profound obsession.  As mentioned
early in the work, Jimmy Cross carries letters and two pictures from a friend
named Martha.  The story tells how "he would dig his foxhole, wash his hands
under a canteen, unwrap the letters and photos, hold them with the tips of his
fingers, and spend the last hour of light pretending, he would imagine romantic
camping trips…" (275). One picture is a black and white picture of Martha
standing against a brick wall.  It is told how Martha has an apparent neutral
look to her, and Cross can't help but notice the shadow of the person taking the
picture.  Cross knows she has boyfriends, knows she is closer to men other than
himself.  The other picture that Cross has is one of Martha clipped from a
yearbook.  It is a shot of Martha playing volleyball for her school.  In the
picture, Martha is "bent horizontal to the floor, reaching, the palms of her
hands in sharp focus…the expression on her face taut and competitive" (276). The
usual glance at a picture isn't enough for this man.  It becomes an obsession
for him to do this every night, sometimes he "licks the envelopes knowing that
her tongue touched the paper" (275).
     O'Brien gives the impression that Cross has the deepest thoughts for Martha
throughout the story.   He mentions on numerous occasions that  Cross is
thinking about her, and imagining being with her. Cross remembers back to when
he touched her knee in a theater, but pulling it away when he felt uncomfortable
when Martha gives m a certain look.  When Cross receives the stone that Martha
picked up on the Jersey shore, he daydreams that he "wondered how the Jersey
shore line was when Martha saw the pebble and bent down to pick it up…imagining
her bare feet" (278).  In the letter that accompanied the pebble, Martha
mentions that she picked up the pebble from where the water and the land meet
where it has a "separate but together quality" (278).
     Cross is not the only man who carries strange objects to deal with the
war and the absence of home.  One guy in the infantry carries not only his
normal gear and...

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