Letting Go of What They Carried

  The men of O'Briens platoon carry a plethera of physical items which differentiate depending on their desires and needs. Besides carrying pounds of equipment and weapons, these men carry diseases and emotional scarring. What is truly astonishing is the weight of their experiences of the Vietnam as young men. Their minds are still developing, but being molded into jadded soldiers. Having to replay images of death in ones mind for the rest of his life is traumatizing. I would have tried to escape reality somehow similar to how Ted Lavender and Jimmy Cross do. Although Lavender uses drugs, which I do not condone, I can sympathize with the desire to numb the current situation. Finishing their term is probably the best feeling for all the men.

It was flight, a kind of fleeing, a kind of falling, falling higher and higher, spinning off the edge of the earth and beyond the sun and through the vast, silent vacuum where there were no burdens and where everything weighed exactly nothing- Gone! they screamed. I'm sorry but I'm gone! - and so at night, not quite dreaming, they gave themselves over to lightness, they were carried, they were purely borne (23).

Comments

[Bernie H.]

That quote is about them dreaming of flying away, right? I don't think it's about them finishing their terms .... But what you say about the numbing is important, regardless.

A couple of formatting notes: don't indent paragraphs and make sure you spellcheck.

Nice title!

[Matt G.]

I intepreted the quote more as evidence that the soldiers use fantasy to momentarily get away from the horrors of war, an idea that O'Brien repeats many times throughout his stories. In effect, the soldiers' immersions in fantasy numb the horrors of war, and in that sense I agree with you.

I do not believe the quote is describing the feelings of the men finishing their terms. I think it is simply describing a way in which the men deal with the horrible reality in which they are living by mentally distancing themselves from it.

[Eric B.]

I agree with Lucy on how astonished I was after reading about how emotionally draining their lives are day to day. I don't believe that teens and early twenty year olds should have to go through these experiences. They are still young and have the rest of their lives ahead of them.

[Kendall P.]

I agree with you also Lucy the things they carried aren't just materialistic things but mental and emotional things. Seeing images of fellow soldiers or human beings period should be disturbing to anybody that's sane. I would also have to find a relief like Ted or Jimmy Did too. They're carrying a lot more than army equipment.