The Things They Carried - The Man I Killed Chapter Commentary

For this particular chapter, I found it interesting how the author focused so much on the details of the corpse. It made me question why as I feel like other authors may focus more on how the person felt rather than what they were seeing. After some thought, I believe it is because it was a way the author was expressing the intense emotions the narrator was actually feeling. By focusing more on the details of the corpse instead of the emotions the narrator felt, it showed how the narrator's mind might have been protecting itself from being overwhelmed by negative emotions and shutting down. As the narrator focused on the corpse and what life the man might have been living before his time of death, the narrator was also avoiding the fact that he killed someone and the feelings that came with that action.