Characterize Lieutenant Jimmy Ctross through Obriens use of setting and other characters.

All the dangers, monotony and terrifying experiences help bring out the personalities of these soldiers. Every day the "hump" their belongings through enemy strewn hills gives them a chance to reflect on their lives, hopes, dreams and fantasies. Jimmy is no different. Even the discovery of a tunnel, most possibly used by Viet Cong, gives Jimmy pause to reflect,

After five minutes, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross moved to the tunnel, leaned down, and examined the darkness. Trouble, he thought--a cave-in maybe. And then suddenly, without willing it, he was thinking about Martha. The stresses and fractures, the quick collapse, the two of them buried alive under all that weight. Dense, crushing love.

Visions of romantic love, fantasies in the male mind become intertwined with the very real dangers of war. This is how the setting fuses with the conscious mind. These flights of fancy, however, are short lived. After the death of Lavender, Jimmy resolves to immerse himself in the war and little else. Jimmy tries to dull his private emotions, distance himself from any civilian life he might have. The setting forces Jimmy to become a soldier all the time.