The Things They Carry Blog #1

The Things They Carry
     As we the reader are introduced to Lieutenant Cross, the first thing that struck me was the incredible detail Tim O'Brien spent listing the weights of the different personal items and/ or job related items that each soldier carried with them: "flak jacket which weighed 6.7 pounds; an illustrated New Testament that had been presented to him by his father." The individual "carryons" per say, must have special importance placed on them for a soldier to deem them worthy of taking up the precious weight upon their backpacks during war, because "necessity dictated." If an item was not significant to a soldier, it wouldn't make the cut. The things they carry make them who they are, an individual, and the continuous listing of said items aids in the readers familiarizing with the characters. Ironically these things that are labeled necessities and whose purpose is to build a soldier up,but, ultimately, weigh them down.
     Another thing that struck me about this idea of carrying your morals, was how Lieutenant Cross reacted when he thought of his love for Marsha. When he is in his dream world, "walking barefoot along the Jersey shoe, with Martha," he physically feels light "carrying nothing." In his real world, filled with war, where every necessity or belonging weighs him down, simply the thought of being with the one he loves lifts that burden.
     The final thing I'd like to discuss is the amount of repetition found within this book. Every time there is a major indentation, the following paragraph begins by talking about the things the soldiers carry. Where as this repetition, I'm sure, is used to emphasize the importance of the items they bring along with them, other repetitions aren't as clear to me. For example many times when a character is brought up within the story line, a fact or tidbit about them is also brought up. Whenever Henry Dobbins is discussed, so is the fact that "(he) was a big man." When Ted Lavender is talked about, he is described as "scared." At this point in the book, I don't know if this repetition is used just to familiarize the reader with all of the characters, or whether this adds to another part of the story. Does the narrator have some type of short term memory loss, and occasionally repeats himself? Or are those characteristics just so important that they basically define who that character is, therefore necessitating to say that Henry is big or that Ted is scared?

Love:
This short Chapter left me with numerous questions, and not a whole lot of answers. Who is the narrator of this section? Could it possibly be the same one as the first chapter? All I know about this person is that he served in the war with Lieutenant Cross, and knows about Martha. Also what did Lieutenant Cross mean by, "don't mention anything about--?" What is this understood unspeakable event?