The guy lurking in the background represents the memories of war. All the loss and fear and guilt that the soldier thought he left back in that country. The “civilian” represents a retired soldier. A veteran per se. The black paint means that he is in an alley, in between buildings. The blue represents night time. When people are depressed/oppressed, they are in a constant darkness that never seems to leave. The veteran is being oppressed by the weight/guilt of the war. War memories never truly leave a soldier. They are always around the corner to sneak up when the soldier least expects it. The veteran is still wearing his dog tags. He feels that if he removes the dog tags, the war will disappear like nothing ever happened. Like he was never a soldier. The representation of war is wearing fatigues, because he never really leaved the country. War is ever-present because even though the soldier has left the country the memories are still there. Just like in The Things They Carried, when O'Brien went over to Jimmy Cross's place and they went over some pictures. When they got to a photo that had Ted Lavender in it, Jimmy said that he never forgave himself for what happened to Ted. Through out the whole first chapter, the book kept referring back to Ted Lavender and how he died. Even though his death happened a while ago, the memories, guilt, and shame are still there. Like when Kiowa died and Norman Bowker blamed himself for his death. How he felt guilty and how he felt like a coward for letting Kiowa slip under. He keeps stating how he's going to explain to his dad how almost got his medals for bravery/courage. In the chapter titled "Speaking of Courage", O'Brien talks about how Norman used to just drive his car around a 7 mile lake over and over again. He was stuck in the repetitive motions of life. His memories keep circling back to him. His brain stuck in the same gear. It's like someone put him on a carnival ride and took the key out.
People often don't know that soldiers sometimes can't adjust to daily regular life again and I think your image and your analysis describes it perfectly! I agree that memories can never truly go away, they can be oppressed but will always come back when not wanted. If the soldier ever experienced the death of a fellow comrade at war, they would also feel like Tim O'Brien as if they could never forgive themselves for letting the death of their happen. But of course, it is not the soldiers fault, it could of been their own life. I think there should be more programs to help soldiers adjust back to their life back at home and not only letting them go off to their families, some see terrible things and need time to re-assure themselves that they did it for our country and now can come back to their family. There's a big problem with soldiers coming back with depression and PTSD and it's because it is all psychological in one's mind. I agree with you "It's stuck in the same gear". Great job!
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