Notes

One way in which overcoming the traumas of the past is made difficult is revealed as the repressed past resurfaces to the characters. One example appears when Norman Bowker from O’Brien’s The Things They Carried remembers a trifle he learned from his time at war as he notes that “the sun had now dipped low. He figured it was close to five o'clock—twenty after, he guessed. The war had taught him to tell time without clocks, and even at night, waking from sleep, he could usually place it within ten minutes either way” (O’Brien 134). By checking the position of the sun in the sky, Norman Bowker is reminded of a time-telling trick he learned in the army, and despite his access to time-keeping devices, he continues to utilize this method. While the act that conjured the thought was small and simple, the memory it triggered was doubtless elaborate and interconnected with many others. The casual syntax riddled with brief pauses indicates Bowker’s internal thought process. Even though time has gone by since the war has ended, Norman Bowker is still reminded of his experiences. This represents how despite the passage of time, the memories of war are inescapable and therefore trauma may be hard to overcome. Another repressed memory surfaces, this time to Nick of “Big Two-Hearted River,” because “He could not remember which way he made coffee. He could remember an argument about it with Hopkins, but not which side he had taken… They never saw Hopkins again. That was a long time ago on the Black River” (Hemingway 168-169). Even the simple act of making coffee caused a painful memory of Nick’s friend, Hopkins, to resurface. This makes it hard for Nick to be at peace with his past. The repeated use of simple sentences, a staple of Hemingway’s work, parallels the climatic thought of Hopkin’s disappearance. As such a simple, everyday act serves to trigger a memory as painful as the death of a dear friend, the challenges of surpassing the lasting psychological effects of war appear daunting. Another simple action, ordering fast food through an intercom, triggers wartime memories for Bowker
“The intercom squeaked and said, ‘Order.’
‘Mama Burger and fries,’ Norman Bowker said.
‘Affirmative, copy clear. No rootie-tootie?’ ” (O’Brien 145).
As Norman orders fast food through the intercom, he seems to be reminded of the walky-talky communication from the war, as this closely mimics the dialect. The use of the militant walky-talky speech, even in the place of a fast food restaurant, renders the memories of war seemingly inescapable. Faced with such a reminder in this commonplace location, the pains of the war linger throughout peaceful times. While some memories surface suddenly, some appear in retrospect, as happens for Nick, “His muscles ached and the day was hot, but Nick felt happy. He felt he had left everything behind, the need for thinking, the need to write, other needs, It was all back of him” (Hemingway 164). Despite his release of his past, the hike uphill still reminds Nick of the things he leaves behind. The asyndeton list used in the excerpt represents Nick cycling through the memories of his past and the needs he was required to tend to from his old life. Even though Nick looks to his painful past with acknowledgment of its end, he still recalls all of the strains the war placed on him, rendering it difficult to cut the tethers from his painful past.