"The Things They Carry" Blog Post 1

I am currently reading the novel The Things They Carry. While reading this book I have recently been looking for themes and conflicts. One theme I’ve noticed a lot this far in the book is that the troops have a fear of shame from their families and fathers. They say that the fear of shame is the only thing keeping them fighting in the war. On page 25 the novel says “They carried the soldier’s greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor. They died so as not to die of embarrassment.” The troops knew that if they went back without dying or getting any medals then their families would think that they didn’t try their hardest. Lieutenant Cross, for example, is one person who felt like he didn’t try his hardest.

         There are many conflicts going on in this book, because after all it is a book about war. One of the main conflicts is the death of Ted Lavender. While walking back from peeing Ted was “shot in the head.” Ever since then, Lieutenant Cross has internally had the conflict of blaming himself for Ted’s death. “He felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry for the rest of the war.” Cross felt responsible for the death because he thought that he must’ve not been paying attention when he was really thinking about Martha.