o, O?Brien seems to revolve his story around Lt. Cross and his obsession with Martha, a woman he loves from home. The story may drift to some of the other men, or speak of the weapons and equipment they all carry, but it always comes back to that issue of LT. Cross, thinking of him and Martha on the beach, wondering if she is a virgin, or just a random flash of her before his eyes. The reader acquires a very keen sense of how obsessed the Lieutenant is on this woman, and therefore the ending holds that much more significance when he burns her letters and pictures, vowing to never think of her again....
