Women act as an escape for the men from the sad reality into an idealistic fantasy. The placement of Martha’s persona by O’Brien is also used to make this prominent. Her character acts as a gateway to a desirable reality. Jimmy Cross is seen constantly reminiscing about Martha and pondering over her on a day-to-day basis. One day, during a mission to destroy tunnel complexes, he “suddenly...was thinking about Martha” (11). Distracting himself from the true purpose of the task, he starts thinking about if she were to be there with him. He “escapes” from the mission and wonders about the thought of “...the two of them buried alive under all that weight”, if the tunnel were to collapse (11). This section shows his inability to put his utmost
