Chapter 1

"The Things They Carried" 

Quote 1:

"They carried all they could bare, and then some, including a silent awe for the terrible power of the things they carried." (page 7)

Analysis:

Here we can see how the author uses an allusion to refer to the life of the men in Lieutenant Cross's troop to "the terrible power of the thing they carried." In this way the author juxtaposes both the emotional baggage and the physical baggage that the soldiers had to carry, and it makes us understand how sometimes the emotional baggage was unbearable rather than the physical baggage which was manageable.

When the author refers to "the silent awe for the terrible power of the things they carried" it can be interpreted as if the author would want us to feel for Lieutenant Jimmy Cross apart from carrying all the needed equipment he also carried the life of his men in his hands.

Quote 2: 

"They moved like mules. By daylight they took sniper fire, at night they were mortared, but it was not battle, it was just the endless march, village to village, without purpose, nothing won or lost. They marched for the sake of the march" (page 15)

Analysis:
At the beginning of the quote the metaphor "They moved like mules." to exemplify the way of walking of the US soldiers. By comparing the soldiers with mules, O'Brien also makes an imaginary on how tiered the soldiers looked and how monotonous their walk was.

This quote explains the difference between the Vietnamese War and World War Two. In WW2 soldiers found themselves fighting against a distinct enemy, but in the Vietnamese War US troops were focused on seeking and obliterating. This quote also portrays how it was harder to find the enemy rather than killing him, exemplifying the dulness and uncertainty of the soldiers both in the war and in the book.

Quote 3:
"They carried the soldier's greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor. They died so as not to die of embarrassment." (page 21)

Analysis:
In this quote the author uses allusions throughout the whole quote. Such is seen in the part were "It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor." Here it can be seen how O'Brien tries to allude that most soldiers are there for the sake of their families' and their own  reputations rather than being in the war for the purpose of trying to be heroes.  

In this quote O'Brien explains the emotional weight that soldiers carry with them throughout the war. In this quote the author also contradicts the common belief that soldiers go to war because they want to be seen as heroes. Alternatively, he communicates through this passage that soldiers go to war because they are obliged to and because dissenting it means cowardice. 

Quote 4:
"If you weren't humping, you were waiting. I remember the monotony. Digging foxholes. Slapping mosquitoes.The sun and the heat and the endless paddies. Even in the deep bush, where you could die any number of ways, the war was nakedly and aggressively boring. But it was a strange boredom. It was a boredom with a twist, the kind of boredom that caused stomach disorders. You'd be sitting at the top of a high hill, the flat paddies stretching out below, and the day would be calm and hot and utterly vacant, and you'd feel the boredom dripping inside you like a leaky faucet, except it wasn't water it was a sort of acid, and with each little droplet you'd feel the stuff eating away at important organs. You'd try to relax. You'd uncurl your fists and let your thoughts go. Well, you'd think, this isn't so bad.. And right then you'd hear gunfire behind you and your nuts would fly up into your throat and you'd be squealing pig squeals. That kind of boredom." (page 34)

Analysis:
In the quote, we can see how the author uses both imagery and similes. In the fragment "[...] and you'd feel boredom dripping inside you like a leaky faucet [...]" the author makes boredom seem a type of substance inside you that has unpredicted effects and you want it to stop flowing through your body but it can't. 

In another fragment of the quote imagery is used such as "[...] right then you'd hear gunfire behind you and your nuts would fly up into your throat and you'd be squealing pig squeals.". The author here tries to explain how fast emotions change when you are in the field; one minute you are bored, and before you know it you are shooting at the night with no distinct target.

In this quote, O'Brien unmasks the truth of how fighting a war is really like. He explains through this quote that wars are not as Hollywood movies represents them; as full of blood and butchery. It's not that the Vietnamese war didn't have a lot of blood and gore but  he rather states that wars are mostly full of free time and a lot of walking is involved in which you could be killed unexpectedly.