I found it interesting that O'Brien ordered the chapters "Enemies" and "Friends" back to back.
Even a title of "Enemies" couldn't bestow in my mind the absence of brotherhood between the men in O'Brien's unit, Alpha Company. While Lee Strunk and Dave Jenson got into a costly fist fight, the violence of the fight didn't cause the men to be enemies. For me, the men weren't enemies, but Jenson felt like he was in a constant battle with "skittish feelings." "The distinction between good guys and bad guys disappeared for him" (page 60) and he began behaving in bizarre ways. The enemy is the feeling of guilt and fear and restlessness.
In "Friends," it's obvious from the get-go that the pact between Dave Jenson and Lee Strunk would somehow be tested. Foreshadowing one of them getting hurt, O'Brien shares the story of how the pact was made and finally how it was tested. At the end of the chapter, we see on the surface Jensen's selfish reaction to hearing that "Strunk died somewhere over Chu Lai" (page 63), but digging deeper (as is always O'Briens purpose) we see that the weight wasn't lifted upon hearing that his friend had died and would be relieved of the war. Jensen felt relieved by knowing he didn't have to make the decision of whether or not to keep Strunk going.
Claire, I definitely felt the same way about the "Enemies" chapter when I read 'The Things They Carried' way back in June. All of the men were dealing with the horrors of Vietnam, but Jensen unfortunately ended up taking out his stress on Strunk. I felt like the enemy was the tension caused by the things you said : guilt, fear, and restlessness. Of course, the two men got past their fight, which proved to strengthen their brotherhood even more. It's funny how restitution had the power to bring these two together.
ReplyDeleteI saw of pattern of "pair" chapters throughout
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