In "The Things They Carried," Martha is the love interest of Jimmy Cross. Jimmy has been in love with Martha since college, when they went on a date. This idea of love keeps him hopeful, even though he suspects that love is not real. When he gets back from the war and reconnects with Martha, he realizes that Martha did not love him. This shows how brutal war can be, as it steals time from people, and ruins what "could have been." The soldiers held unto certain dreams and illusions to encourage them to come back home, but when they came back, they realized that few of those dreams actually became reality.
