The Things They Carried

Most of a small village has been burned down—including a girl’s home—but the girl dances. Rat Kiley finds a chicken to cook for dinner. The girl dances on her toes, sometimes smiling to herself. Azar asks why she is dancing and Henry Dobbins responds that “it doesn’t matter why, she just was” (129). Later, they find her family in the house, dead and burned. As they drag the family out, the girl continues dancing: “Her face had a dreamy look, quiet and composed” (130). After leaving the village, Azar mocks the girl’s dancing. Henry lifts Azar into the air, asking if he’d like to be thrown into the well; “Azar said no. ‘All right, then,’ Henry Dobbins said, ‘dance right’” (130).

One Sunday after the war, Norman Bowker drives in seven-mile loops around a lake in his hometown. Homes with spacious lawns line the road. He used to drive around the lake with Sally Kramer or his friend Max Arnold back in high school. Max Arnold drowned in the lake. Sally Kramer is now married, along with most of the other girls Norman knew from high school. The afternoon is hot; he imagines stopping by Sally’s house and impressing her with his ability to tell time just by looking at the sky.