The
connection between "" and "The Things They Carried" is that both are set
during wartime, and they both place their focus on ain a difficult position: Peyton Fahrquhar
and Jimmy Cross.
Peyton Fahrquhar is a civilian who has been manipulated by
a Union scout and then caught sabotaging a bridge, which is a capital offense. As Fahrquhar
faces execution by hanging, he copes with his impending death by projecting his mind on a
miraculous escape. He pictures himself falling into the water beneath the bridge, dodging
gunfire, and hiking home through the woods to his farm where "his wife, looking fresh and
cool and sweet, steps down from the veranda to greet him." In reality, Fahrquhar does not
survive the hanging, but the fantasy in which he loses himself in the moments leading up to his
death provides comfort.
Jimmy Cross is a first lieutenant who is responsible
for his platoon. While on patrol, Cross copes with the constant low-level fear and...
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