Jim Neilson

This article gave a lot of different insight to the book "The Things They Carried". One of the quotes that Neilson brings a great since of how the men felt about the war and when they were going into battle. For instance, "That little field," he writes, had swallowed so much. My best friend. My pride. My belief in myself as a man of some small dignity and courage. Still, it was hard to find any real emotion. . . . After that long night in the rain, I'd seemed to grow cold inside, all the illusions gone, all the old ambitions and hopes for myself sucked away into the mud. (210) War is a very harsh environment. A lot of people do not realize the impact it can make on someone’s life. We see war as a little thing if someone dies. However, if that was you that died, or it was someone close to you, you realize that one death can mean a lot more than just a short article in the newspaper. A life can also be something that people take for granite. Everyone thinks that they are going to live another day and so on, but in reality someone’s life can be taken away just as quick as it was given to them. This quote also talks about how “I'd seemed to grow cold inside, all the illusions gone, all the old ambitions and hopes for myself sucked away into the mud.” When someone in the war loses someone around them, their mind becomes engulfed on what is happening around them and they forget their orders and they lose track of what is going on. Suddenly they fight for one another and bleed for one another for they never know which day will be their last.