1. Juxtaposition

There are many aspects juxtaposed throughout chapter one. Beginning with the death of Lavender, Lieutenant Cross now had "...something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war"(pg 16, O'Brien). This stone, in his stomach, is juxtaposed with Martha's stone. If it was not for Martha, this new burden would not be present. The two stones lead to more juxtaposition. Before Lavender's death, Cross loved Martha, but now he hates her, yet, loves her. Love versus hate. But wait, there's more! Also juxtaposed are what the men carried and their real situation in Vietnam. O'Brien does a marvelous job of breaking into the war's actions to explain indepth the characteristics of the men, their emotions, and wants and needs through the aspect of 'what they carried'. There is also a contrasting of life and death- as shown through Ted Lavender and the war itself. Finally, which I believe all the other juxtaposed items could fall under, there is the ultimate topic of life in Vietnam (their world) and the real world. Both worlds are one, but there is a difference between peace at home, and war in a foreign land. Without this large juxtaposition, none of the others would exist. Because without war there is no death, hate, burdens to bear, or another world to carry on in.