The Things They Carried --- Syntax

Syntax

            When going through the tunnel systems of Vietnam, author Tim O’Brien uses terse statements to imitate the natural thought process of an estranged soldier. Part of the platoon’s mission is to destroy the tunnels used by the indigenous people of Vietnam; but before that is possible, one unlucky soldier is needed to search these underground tunnels. Only two things are needed: a gun, and a flashlight; but what if their “flashlight [goes] dead?”(10). In that certain circumstance with the flashlight being of the most importance for the soldier, it is reasonable to believe that the soldier is thinking what could happen if the flashlight fails on him. It is a normal part of the human thought process to take into account all the possible outcomes from a situation, even the ones that affect negatively. If the flashlight fails on the soldier, it cannot be measured all the different thoughts that go into a soldier’s mind. Going in the tunnel from the beginning, they do not know what is in the tunnel, or how deep or wide it is, or even if the tunnel if stable enough to avoid a collapse. The human mind will speculate what is in these ominous tunnels, and the “imagination [is] a killer” (10). A fundamental desire of humans is to be aware of as many things possible. If one is not cognizant of everything, which is all the time, the imagination is heavily relied upon. Yet, the imagination can produce such incredible images that the human is deathly frightened by something that is untrue.  If the soldier is trapped in a foreign passageway without any light, the soldier’s mind unsurprisingly will create such ridiculous images about what is perceived to be in the tunnel but is likely not present. Not necessarily being trapped in a cave, but a situation where one is not in control often is averted to avoid that sensation of being controlled by the imagination. This puts into perspective how much an individual soldier has to mentally endure during the course of the war.