Change and Emotions in The Things They Carried by Tim...

Albert Einstein once said, â€Å"The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.† This quote relates to Lieutenant Jimmy Cross from the short story â€Å"The Things They Carried,† by Tim O’Brien and the narrator from â€Å"Cathedral,† by Raymond Carver in that they both change. Lieutenant Cross gets distracted by Martha, a girl he is in love with, during the War and one of his man dies. The narrator from Carver’s short story gets jealous about a blind man his wife used to read to and is not happy that they are having him over their house. Even though the narrator is very similar to Lieutenant Cross in that they both have a connection with someone that makes them change, they are also very different in the emotions that they go through. These two characters share many similarities throughout the short stories. They both go through an event that makes them see things differently. Lieut enant Cross is in love with Martha even though he knows that she is probably not in love with him. He gets too distracted with Martha and does not really focus at his job as a lieutenant. One event that changed him was when Ted Lavender, one of his men, died. This made him realize that he was too distracted by Martha and did not cared enough for his men. He felt guilty and had to change his attitude towards his job. O’Brien states: â€Å"He would accept the blame for what had happened to Ted Lavender. He would be a man about it. He would look themShow MoreRelatedIn Literature, There Are Genres. Two Main Genres Are Fiction1350 Words   |  6 Pagesshort story is â€Å"Cathedral.† â€Å"Cathedral† shows a relationship that reality might portray sometimes, but deeper than the surfaced relationship, it a very unique relationship that Raymond Carver is portraying. â€Å"Cathedral† is a story that represents a broken marriage. The husband does not really love the wife. His emotions do not change throughout the story towards his wife. He is affectionately still towards her. She tried healing the marriage, but the husband does not try to change his ways to love