Chapter 2

"Love" 

Important Sections of the Chapter

1). "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." (pg. 29)

ANALYSIS

This quote belongs to the second chapter of the novel "The Things They Carried". The chapter is entitled "Love" and it a continuation of Lieutenant's Cross' love for Martha. In it, the reader is offered with more details about this woman. 

The fact that in this quote Martha says that she doesn't understand how men could do "those things" suggests that she was the victim of some sort of assault involving men, which connects with the Lieutenant's fixation in her virginity all throughout chapter 1. It also explains why she's so impassive when the Lieutenant confesses his unconditional love for her during and after the war and why she shuts her eyes and rocks herself as if suddenly cold, probably reviving an undesirable moment. 

2). "She explained that there was nothing she could do about it, and he said he understood, and then she laughed and gave him the picture and told him not to burn this one up. Jimmy shook his head. 'It doesn't matter,' he finally said. 'I love her.' ..." (pg. 29) 

ANALYSIS

This fragment follows Martha's confession and in it, we readers see why the chapter is entitled "Love". Lieutenant Jimmy Cross expresses the idea that it doesn't matter that Martha were or not a virgin, he loved her for what she represented during his time during the war (she was his elixir of survival) and not for what she experienced in her younger days. This suggests that he does truly love her even though she doesn't love him and that therefore, he still hopes.