First Reactions to "The Things They Carried"

Wow. I don't know if anyone else had the same reaction to the book we're reading or not, but I loved it. I had trouble putting it down after 38 pages. It was thought-provoking, tear-jerking, and terrifically well-written. I loved the way, in the beginning, that Tim O'Brien started each paragraph with some sort of thing the soldiers carried, then went on to describe it in detail and relate everything back to the same scene. I thought it was very strange that Lieutenant Cross was the authority figure, at first. He seemed so distant from the rest of the men, constantly thinking about nothing but Martha. I thought it was kind of strange that he kept the pebble in his mouth at all times and that he pretended that he loved her. I suppose, though, that it was his only way of getting through the tough times in Vietnam. I have no idea what these men really went through, so it's not really fair of me to make assumptions--nevertheless, Cross struck me as an odd fellow. When O'Brien described, on page five, how Cross thought he "should've done something brave. He should've carried her up the stairs to her room and tied her to the bed and touched that left knee all night long," I cringed. In fact, my annotations for that were, and I quote, What? That never would have worked. Can he not take a hint? When, on page 29, he describes how "she was glad he hadn't tried it," I felt a little self-pride when I scribbled a confident told you so! on the side of the page.

I love how real this book is. I think one of my favorite parts so far is when, on page 21, O'Brien describes why soldiers fight. "They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing--these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight. They carried shameful memories. They carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run or freeze or hide, and in many respects this was the heaviest burden of all, for it could never be put down, it required perfect balance and perfect posture. They carried their reputations. They carried the soldier's greatst fear, which was fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, becvause they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positibe, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor. They died so as not to die of embarrassment." He goes on, but I thought that was the most important part. It's so telling! While I can't imagine that every soldier goes into the army out of fear of embarrassment, it would very much tell my story if I were drafted! I would want my pride, so I would do everything I could in order to keep it. I love how he portrayed these soldiers not as just heroes of war, but as human beings as well.