CSL

“No casualty is more or less significant than another; each soldier, Marine, airman and sailor is equally precious and their loss equally tragic,” said Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, the U.S. military’s chief spokesman in Iraq.

O’Brien is no different. He depicts death in his own way just as each soldier deals with death (impending or actual) in his own way.   Explain his technique and what effect this has on the reader. O’Brien employs different strategies for dealing with the very difficult subject. Discuss O’Brien’s technique from at least three different vignettes. As always pair text with commentary.

A:  First off, Happy Birthday Momma Z! 

      Admiral Smith once said “No casualty is more or less significant than another; each soldier, Marine, airman and sailor is equally precious and their loss equally tragic,” .  This is the case with Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried.  When O’Brien deals with death in his novel he uses some remorse but he also remembers the good times they shared with their fallen comrade.  For example, when Ted Lavender died the Lieutenant felt it was all his fault.  Others remembered times they had with him, like when he always smoked his marijuana.  In the vignette, “Friends”, there is a story of Dave Jensen and Lee Strunk.  In the story, they both joked around about if one them was injured so severly that the other would end his pain.   This shows how the men took death as a mockery.  Lastly, the story of Curt Lemon it shows the remembering of a funny time with a dentist that he spent with a fallen comrade.  Funny moments help bring us out of remorse

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