Chapter 10 & 11

"Stockings" 

Important Sections of the Chapter

1). "In many ways he was like America itself, big and strong, full of good intentions, a roll of fat jiggling at his belly, slow of foot but always plodding along, always there when you needed him..." (pg. 117)

ANALYSIS

O'Brien is making a comparison between Henry Dobbins and America itself. As opposed to his vignette about Curt Lemon, we see that O'Brien likes Henry Dobbins and considers him a person that deserves to be mourned  because he was "big and strong" and "full of good intentions." 

However, this quote also suggests contradiction in O'Brien's words. While he says that America is "big and strong", "full of good intentions" and "always there when you needed", the sentences "slow of foot" and "a roll of fat jiggling at his belly" suggests that the narrator is slightly criticizing America for being slow and fat. 

2). "...he sometimes slept with the stockings up against his face, the way an infant sleeps with a flannel blanket, secure and peaceful...They kept him safe. They gave him access to a spiritual world, where things were soft and intimate, a place were he might someday take his girlfriend to live." (pg. 118)

ANALYSIS 

The stockings represent a source of escape. Henry Dobbins' character sees them as a talisman, a good luck charm. Through the phrase "the way an infant sleeps with a flannel blanket, secure and peaceful" we readers are not only confronted with the idea that the soldiers were innocent but, with the fact that the stockings symbolize a life elsewhere, a life out of war. 

They are the "door" to a world where there is no death, darkness or fear, but comfort and security, which merely emphasizes the emotional burdens that the soldiers during the Vietnam War carried: the idea of hope and home, which enabled them to make it through the war.  

3). "...his girlfriend dumped him. It was a hard blow...he took out the stockings and tied them around his neck as a comforter. 'No sweat,' he said. ' The magic doesn't go away.' " (pg. 118)

ANALYSIS 

O'Brien intends to show how the American soldiers order their experience by superstition rather than by rationality. Their beliefs in talismans and good luck charms have become a kind of religion, a faith that impulses them to last through the war.

The fact that Henry Dobbin's girlfriend breaks with him but he still conserves the stockings as a sign of good luck, simply emphasizes the idea that he find comforts in his beliefs like the rest of the men of the platoon, and that these superstitions are what makes all men at war safe.  

"Church" 

Important Sections of the Chapter

1). "Kiowa made a noise in the throat. ' This is all wrong,' he said. 'What?' 'Setting up here. It's wrong I don't care what, it's still a church.' " (pg. 122)

ANALYSIS

The character of two men in the platoon who believe in religion are depicted above. O'Brien strives to highlight that both Kiowa and Henry Dobbins understand that their invasion as soldiers in the pagoda (a saint place) is wrong mainly because they are involuntarily attacking the religion and culture of the Vietnamese population. 

The repetition of the sentence "this is all wrong" merely emphasizes that both characters consider the presence of death, darkness and war, disrespectful in relation to a church because this place symbolizes peace and forgiveness and indirectly, these men consider themselves murderers for participating in war. 

2). "Henry Dobbins made the washing motion with his hands. 'You're right,' he said. 'All you can do is be nice. Treat them decent, you know?' ". (pg. 123)

ANALYSIS

In this fragment, Henry Dobbins tries to mitigate the disrespectful action of his platoon of having invaded the monks' place of worship. He claims that the only thing he can do is "be nice" and "treat them decent" which suggests that he believes that one small act of compassion, a smile or a gentil word, towards those who deserve no harm (innocent people) is the perfect tool for making amends and proving themselves as human beings rather than as soulless beasts. 

O'Brien uses this quote to illustrate the desire of the character of showing that at some level, the war has not changed him completely and that he still has a trace of innocence and respect to those uninvolved in the war. In other words, he is still a person.