Characters in The things they carried

The things they carried is a pretty long short stories and also deals with many minor character. Which make the stories hard to remember because of many character description by the author O' Brien. The stories takes place during Vietnam War. I think if you had to pick a main character for the stories it would be Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. The story begin withe Jimmy Cross obsession with this girl named Martha. Even though he knows that she doesn't love him, but he really loves her. He talks to her by writing many love letter. He hopes that she is a virgin but he not sure. Eventually, later on the story he blames himself for Lavender death because he would daydream about Martha picture. Therefore, he burns the picture of Martha which represented how guilty he felt for death of Lavender. Another thing he is guilty about is Kiowa death. He was one the person that decided to camp on a sewage field where Kiowa dies by drowning into the sewage.
Another character in The thing they carried is Ted Lavender. Ted Lavender dies because of gunshot to back of the head. He used to carry tranquilizer and Marijuana to deal with pain of the war. The death of Ted Lavender set a tone for rest of the group causing them to realize the reality of the war. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross blames himself for the death of Lavender. After lavender death he digs a hole for him while think that it was his fault and he loved Martha more than his men therefore burning her picture. At the end of the story he realize that he isn't doing his duty right. He become more strict and take his responsibility to be a good soldier.