Deconstruction of The Things They Carried

As O'Brien is describing the need for "humping" certain pieces of equipment, he says two things, upon which, I feel as though the moral of the text rests upon: "if it involved a place they knew to be bad, they carried everything they could," as well as "with [the mine detector's] headphones and big sensing plate, the equipment was a stress on the lower back and shoulders, awkward to handle, often useless because of the shrapnel in the earth, but they carried it anyway, partly for safety, partly for the illusion of safety." He spends so much time describing minor, irrelevant details about the various items that the men carry, whether physical or mental, focusing on the small insignificant rather than the important, I am led to question if his method of storytelling is really a defense mechanism of avoidance. When describing the death of one of his men, Ted Lavender, Lt. Cross blames the man's passing on his own lack of concentration; "He pictured Martha's smooth young face, thinking he loved her more than anything, more than his men, and now Ted Lavender was dead because he loved her so much and could not stop thinking about her."

On the contrary, however, perhaps the narrator focuses on the seemingly smaller aspects in a logical attempt to preserve not only his, but the lives of the men around him for which he is responsible. Perhaps, instead of going over details as a way of distraction, the narrator is demonstrating the troop's protection method, a constant review of a mental inventory list, if you will. As stated in the text, "the carried all they could bear, and then some, including a silent awe for the terrible power of the things they carried." From this, it's possible to derive a sense of caution, as well, from the men, as they realize and remind themselves of what they are capable of, what their environment is capable of.  Also, in another fortification of their defensive mental walls, the narrator states that their "imagination was a killer." If they allowed themselves to focus on the big picture, one that revolves around dying, they'd surely kill themselves before the enemy had a chance to do so.