"For a long while Jimmy Cross lay floating. In the clouds to the east there was the sound of a helicopter, but he did not take notice. With his eyes still closed, bobbing in the field, he let himself slip away. He was back home in New Jersey. A golden afternoon on the golf course, the fairways lush and green, and he was teeing it up on the first hole. It was a world without responsibility...." pg. 170
Granted, just about every chapter in this book is an anecdote, but I thought this chapter was particularly anecdote-y. It especially meets the requirements of showing the character of an individual, in this case two. I feel it redeems Norman Bowker from the sort of defamation O'Brien gives him, which is partly his fault and partly "made up to show the truth." However, this chapter was written to give the actual details of what happened in the grimy field (I'm really starting to run out of euphemisms here). Okay, so Norman is redeemed, but what I didn't expect was the inner workings of Jimmy Cross, the platoon's leader, to reveal how very much he is unlike a leader. I would probably act the same way as him, but how do you get higher up in the army and be so non-committal? 'Tis baffling, indeed.
Christian, I think this would be the reason why O'Brien took the time to write about how Cross signed up for officer training with friends just for kicks. He was showing that while it was Lt. Cross' fault for signing up, the draft was such a surprise that hundreds of men who signed up to get money ended up getting a whole lot more...
ReplyDeleteDid anybody sign up voluntarily?
ReplyDeleteI guess they did. I forgot. My dad's draft number was called. Thirty-nine. He took the physical and everything, but then the war ended.
I'm just wondering though, how he became a Lieutenant if he was never fully gun-ho from the beginning.
ReplyDeleteI guess somebody's gotta be Lieutenant. Maybe Cross drew the short straw.
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