Jasmine Jordan (summarizer/ blog master)
Great post and insight John! (for some reason its not letting me directly comment)
"They carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run or freeze or hide, and in many respects this was the heaviest burden of all, for it could never be put down, it required perfect balance and perfect posture." (The Things They Carried.77)
I find it interesting that the soldiers' potential cowardice is a "common secret." Their great sense of fear is something that all of them secretly keep to themselves but more importantly, it is something that they ALL have inside of them. I'm interested to see how this plays out further into the book and if it makes or breaks the bond between them.
I agree with Jasmine and John. The men let fear take over them. All the men go by what the others will think. Instead of doing the right thing they do the opposite and do what is wrong. They believe that to be a hero they must shoot and kill people instead of having the title as a coward. Wouldn't you want to be called a coward then kill an innocent person if they did not do wrong? It will be an interesting thing to see how the men react with these situations later on in the book.
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