Released From The Grip Of What He Carried: Freedom Birds :: essays research papers

Released From the Grip of What He Carried Freedom Birds"They dreamed of freedom birds. At night, on guard, sodding(a) into the dark,they were carried away by jumbo jets. They felt the rush of takeoff. G starThey yelled. (286). "Freedom bird" an appropriate term for the jumbo jets thattake the soldiers from their tour because it gives them the freedom from whathas been keeping them back. Throughout the story, First Lieutenant Jimmy Crosshas his mind everywhere but on his infantry he is supposed to be leading on thetour. The story shows how even the smallest memory, letter, or indicate can drawanyone from reality. It shows several mens struggle to overcome theirpredisposed 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 theywere fighting, they themselves carried the unnecessary on a tour. The seeminglyinnocent picture, the numer ous earn sent, and even thoughts of what it waslike to be home, all of a loved one is now shown to have an impact. As seenwith Jimmy Cross, some men even went to a profound obsession. As mentionedearly in the work, Jimmy Cross carries letters and two pictures from a friendnamed Martha. The story tells how "he would dig his foxhole, wash his giveunder a canteen, unwrap the letters and photos, hold them with the tips of hisfingers, and spend the last hour of light pretending, he would imagine romanticcamping trips" (275). One picture is a black and white picture of Marthastanding against a brick wall. It is told how Martha has an apparent neutrallook to her, and Cross cant help but notice the shadow of the somebody taking thepicture. Cross knows she has boyfriends, knows she is closer to men other thanhimself. The other picture that Cross has is one of Martha clipped from ayearbook. It is a shot of Martha playing volleyball for her school. In thepicture, Martha is "bent horizontal to the floor, reaching, the palms of herhands in sharp focusthe expression on her face taut and competitive" (276). Theusual glance at a picture isnt enough for this man. It becomes an obsessionfor him to do this every night, sometimes he "licks the envelopes knowing thather tongue touched the paper" (275).OBrien gives the impression that Cross has the deepest thoughts for Martha end-to-end the story. He mentions on numerous occasions that Cross isthinking about her, and imagining being with her.