The Things They Carried Chapter 2, Love

Years later Jimmy visits Tim (the narrator) and they talk about the war. They look at photographs, and Jimmy says he never forgave himself for Lavender's death. Tim feels the same way about some things. After they are both drunk, Tim asks about Martha. Jimmy is surprised that Tim remembers her, but he goes to his room and gets a framed picture. It is the volleyball photograph. At a college reunion in 1979, they had run into each other. She was a Lutheran missionary, a nurse. She had never married, and she said she didn't know why, and looked at him mysteriously. When he told her he still loved her, she shrugged him off. Her eyes were dull when she looked at him, and she said she was sorry. Then she gave him a copy of the photograph and laughingly told him not to burn this one. He still loves her, Jimmy tells Tim. They avoid the topic for the rest of Jimmy's visit, but as he is leaving he asks Tim to write a little story about him and Martha. He thinks it might change her mind. Tim agrees, promising to make Jimmy look good, and not to mention certain parts of the story.

Topic Tracking: Truth 1