The Lives of the Dead

"Sitting there in the back seat, I wanted to find some way to let her know how I felt, a compliment of some sort, but all I could manage was a stupid comment about the cap. 'Jeez,' I must've said, 'what a cap'" (pg 217).

The final chapter was my favorite BY FAR! I wish Tim O'Brien would write a novel entirely about Linda. Their relationship is adorable and touching. He couldn't have ended the novel in a better way. This quote shows his youthful innocence. He has no idea why Linda is wearing that cap; all he knows is that he loves her and thinks she looks beautiful in it. I could have killed Nick Veenhof when he pulled her cap off. She's just a sick little girl that is trying to go on with life as best as possible, and he has to embarrass her like that. Considering he was a child and had no idea what he was doing makes it better, but I couldn't believe it. Then after she dies, Tim goes to sleep just so he can be with her! It's precious. That is something that could honestly make me cry. All in all, I liked "The Things They Carried" so much more than "The Sun Also Rises." Kudos O'Brien! Try again Hemingway!

Night Life

"The next morning he shot himself. He took off his boots and socks, laid out his medical kit, doped himself up, and put a round through his foot. Nobody blamed him, Sanders said" (pg 212).

Once again, it is an example of the war getting to him. He comes up with the idea that the bugs are after him and even scratches himself until he scabs up. He can't sleep at night, because he thinks of human organs and his own insides. It's a disturbing thought. Everyone understands what he's going through, so when he shoots himself in the foot, nobody says anything. The lieutenant even says he'll vouch that it was an accident. It's part of that unity and the bond that has grown between their platoon. Rat Kiley was a good medic, but it was time for him to move on!

The Ghost Soldiers

"I didn't complain. In an odd way, though, there were times when I missed the adventure, even the danger, of the real war out in the boonies" (pg 183).



I feel like no matter how much you hate something or someone, if there is part of you that likes it in any way, you will miss it when it's gone. For instance, there's this really annoying boy at my work, and I hadn't seen him for awhile because he was in season for a sport, and I actually started to miss him being around. It's weird. I never would have guessed that would happen. And it seems like whenever my friends and I look back, we think about all the fun things we have done and we start to miss it. But when it is actually happening, we somewhat take it for granted. It sounds cliche, but it makes me think of the song "Live Like You Were Dying" by Tim McGraw. Live every day to the fullest.

Field Trip

"Like coming over here. Some dumb thing happens a long time ago and you can't ever forget it" (pg 175).

This quote shows the ignorance and innocence of youth. I don't know if innocence makes sense, but I think it does partially. Kathleen is only ten years old and has no idea what her father has been through. She thinks it's "weird" that he thinks about it all the time, but who can blame him. He witnessed and took part in a lot of crazy things in Vietnam. It's a big part of his life. It makes me wonder if I don't know about something major in my parents life. It also makes me think about what my children will think about what I find important when I grow up.

In the Field

"Wasted in the waste" (pg 158).

It seems like some sort of figurative language, but it's the honest to God truth. As Azar so brutally put it, Kiowa was wasted in the waste. He was sucked under while sleeping, and no one was able to save him. It seems unreal. You've heard of people being taken under by quick sand, even that's rare. But you never hear of someone being engulfed into a big lake of feces... It is not only terribly sad, it's disgusting. I cannot imagine. He must've drowned, which means the liquid went into his lungs and every crevice and opening of his body. It could make me vomit.

Notes

"Eight months later he hanged himself" (pg 154).



I hate to say it, but I totally saw this coming. Norman Bowker drives around the lake by himself 11 times or more, retelling war stories in his head, imagining people's responses. He doesn't know how to live in the regular world anymore. It would have most benefited him to go back into the army, even if there is no war going on at the moment. It would make him feel like he had a purpose. He didn't even know how to interact with people anymore. It was as if he expected the world to have paused when he went into the army, and when he came back, he could press play and just jump back into his old world. Unfortunately, that's not how things work. Life goes on. His inability to cope with life after war allowed me to foreshadow him killing himself in the future.

Speaking of Courage

"On the lake side of the road, where real estate was most valuable, the house were handsome and set deep in, well kept and brightly painted, with docks jutting out into the lake, and boats moored and covered with canvas, and neat gardens, and sometimes even gardeners, and stone patios with barbecue spits and grills, and wooden shingles saying who lived where. On the other side of the road, to his left, the houses were also handsome, though less expensive and on smaller scale and with no docks or boats or gardeners" (pg 132).

In chapter 15, we are able to see little bit of the local color of Norman Bowker's hometown. We hear about the landscape of the town. One road is divided in half with one half being upper class and the other half being more middle class. It's crazy how on literally the same road, things can be so different. I mean I guess it's not that different, but there are definitely noticeable distinctions between each side. It makes me wonder if the people got along on both sides, or if the people on the wealthier side thought they were better. It makes me curious. I have never witnessed a road like this. Although my pictures probably don't accurately depict the road at all, this is how I imagine it.