Chapter 19: Field Trip

Why does O’Brien return to the shit field?

• He returns to shit field in order to find peace and comfort, and with a possibility of being able to move on from the tragedy. “My best friend. My pride. My belief in myself as a man of some small dignity and courage. Still, it was hard to find any real emotion. It simply wasn't there. After that long night in the rain, I'd seemed to grow cold inside, all the illusions gone, all the old ambitions and hopes for myself sucked away into the mud. Over the years, that coldness had never entirely disappeared” (O’Brien)

What is the point of putting Kiowa’s moccasins in the ground (burying them)?

• The point was to allow himself to physically put to rest that last strand that had him holding on to the trama. After 20 years, he was ready to let go of the guilt.

Explain the significance of the final sentence. Who or what is “all finished”?

• All of the anger and guilt that was built up over the accumulation of the war was now coming to a close, as he was finally ready to let go. To let go of all the pain that was felt and the death that was seen, he was ready for a life that didn’t constantly remind him of those events.

Reflection:

This chapter was a lot of letting go. Letting go of the past and beginning to focus on the future. To leave the tragic events in the past, for there is nothing he could do now. This was a powerful chapter because of this feeling of accumulated mixed feelings he described in his stories. It was hard to let go of something that one would constantly think about. Especially if that thing was multiple deaths from war. O’Brien made the stories along the way grab the audience for when this chapter and this time to let go was inputted, the readers could feel what he felt. The release of tension and the release of so much emotion, like a weight lifted.