The Things They Carried

TTTC: use of military jargon

R&R SOP RTO

TTTC: 2x example of specific weight in the bag

pistol that weighed 2.9 bounds

radio, 26 rounds

TTTC: accounting for even the weight of love

love lettres 10 ounces

TTTC: how lavender’s death becomes a landmark of time

In April, before Lavender died

TTTC: guilt of lavender death

Lavender was dead. You couldn’t burn the blame

TTTC: not physical baggage they carried but..

they carried the emotional baggage of men who might die

TTTC: jimmy cross transformation after Lavender’s death

his obligation was not to be loved but to lead

TTTC: jimmy cross’ fantasy

the legs of a virgin, dray and without hair

TTTC: how did the platoon violently react to Lavender’s death

they burned everything. they shot chickens and dogs, and trashed trashed the village well - Than Khe

TTTC: movement of soldiers through Vietnam description

they moved like mules. It was just the endless march without purpose

Love: Martha truth

she was glad he hadn’t tried

Love: questioning reliability of narrator

make me out to be a good guy

OTTR: start

this story I’ve never told before

OTTR: on top of the world

I had the world kicked

OTTR: Elroy bundle was…

the hero of my life

OTTR: Elroy burdle communication was a

wilful, almost ferocious silence

OTTR: Elroy bundle financial aid

emergency fund

OTTR: images of Canada OTTR

• Tiny red berries

• Squirrels

• Birch Trees

OTTR: kaleidoscopic view

• Parents

• Townsfolk

• Abraham Lincoln

• Unborn Daughter

• A slim young man I would one day kill

OTTR: ephinany

I was a coward I went to war

TMIK: description of eye

his eye was a star shaped hole

TMIK: contrast that emphasis his death

there was butterfly on his chin, his neck was open to the spinal cord

TMIK: azar reaction

Shredded fucking wheat

TMIK: imagination of young man’s live

• family’s poverty

• 1964 university of Saigon

• Professor of mathematics

TMIK: courage in imagination of man that O’Brien lacked

It was never open to question

TMIK: passage of time over body

the body lay almost entirely in shade

TMIK: kiowa reaction

talk to me

SoC: setting and action - how many times

• seven-mile loop around the lake in his father’s big Chevy

• twelfth revolution

SoC: cities his school friends moved to

Des Moines, Sioux City

SoC: sally character shows moving on

Sally Kramer —> Sally Gustafon

SoC: war achievement e.g.

you have seven medals

SoC: the cities personified forgets

it had no memory, therefore no guilt

SoC: constant mentioning of…

You want to hear about the Silver Star I almost won”

SoC: courage and cowardice quote

The difference between courage and cowardice was something small and stupid

SoC: repressed voice

well how’d you like to hear about —

SoC: public’s interpretation of war

they wanted good intentions and good deeds

SoC: actual truth of the story

the truth is I let the guy go

SoC: recounting story of location called…

Song Tra Bong in shit field

which story emphasis the truth

How to tell a true war story

This is true