things they carried
...ied yet gave many underlying inferences that had to be made about other things that they carried. O’Brien conveyed each character by describing the elements of their personality by describing the things that they carried. He described their weapons and the clothes that they wore, and even their personal items. Each character carried personal items that defined them. “Ted Lavender carried six or seven ounces of premium dope…Mitch Sanders, the RTO carried condoms. Norman Bowker carried a diary. Rat Kiley carried comic books. Kiowa…carried an illustrated New Testament…and his grandfather’s old hunting hatchet.” These men carried personal items to keep there memories of home and their identities in a strange new world. The words the O’Brien uses have many underlying meanings. After Ted Lavender died, Jimmy Cross told his troops that “they would no longer abandon equipment along the route of march.” But does this really mean equipment or does it have an underlying meaning? Jimmy Cross could be feelings guilty for Ted Lavender’s death. Jimmy feels that since he is in charge and has been that he should start to act like it. He doesn’t want any other casualties to his platoon so when Cross tells his men that ...