18. The Living Dead

“They didn’t disturb the body, they just grabbed the old man’s hand” (pg 214, O’Brien). Kiowa claims these acts are not decent, but this situation reminds me of Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead in Mexican culture (pg 215). On November 1, or the counterpart to Catholicism’s’ All Soul’s Day, the Mexican cities celebrate the deaths of their ancestors. They lay out altars with candles, and their relatives’ favorite food and items, ultimately inviting them back into the home. Also, they dress up, and dance to the cemeteries in the process of mocking death. By celebrating and finding humor in death they are accepting of their own fate. I am not arguing that Alpha Company’s actions were not humorous and disrespectful, but I feel that at that moment they were one with the dead. They were fighting a war. Almost every chapter of the book revolves around death. These men had watched three other men in their platoon die. They were not blind to the idea, they knew it was a possibility, and somehow, they could accept it.