Ever since July 4, 1776 “people sleep peaceably in their bed at night on because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” Although the U.S. had a few times of doubt, we have been and continue to be a solid, secure country since then. Over time there has been many stories written on behalf of war and the rough men that fight for us so we can sleep without a worry at night, and here is where we dive deeper. To begin with, a perfect story to start with is “The Things They Carried” written by Tim O’Brien, which is about a platoon of American soldiers fighting for their country on the ground during the Vietnam war. O’brien writes about the things these soldiers carried from intangible items/memories to tangible items or people. They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing - these were intangible, but the intangible haf 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… These American soldiers carried a lifetime of burdens on their shoulders. O’brien wrote, “They carried shameful memories…” Meaning they carried the tangible but also the intangible death of Ted Lavender, for one soldier saw him drop dead, which could be considered …show more content…
but we know that ten kliks south meaning overseas they’re are cratered areas, destroyed houses, burn vehicles, and a mangle corpse that could be our own U.S. soldier but we could only imagine