Dealing with Death

In this short story O'Brien discusses the death of Ted Lavender. He discusses how the rest of the platoon deals with this death which they do in three different ways. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross takes his death the hardest and places the blame all on his shoulders. His inability to get over his obsession with his unrequited love Martha left him blind and unaware of his surroundings when Lavender was shot. This is the main focus of the story, but how the rest of the platoon reacts is also a very interesting insight into how different people react to death. Kiowa just can not stop discussing his death, he keeps reliving it over and over again. Not in a terrifying or scaring way but he just can not stop thinking about how fast Lavender fell. He wanted to feel more, he wanted to be like his Lieutenant and cry and feel for the death of his friend but he felt nothing. The rest of the platoon just wanted Kiowa to be quiet about their comrades death. While the rest of the characters do not comment on their feelings about Lavenders death you get the feeling that they are hurting from the loss but just want to be "good" soldiers and put it behind them and move on. Does this speaks to the general perception of how soldiers are supposed to deal with death or maybe how they are forced to deal with death? When death becomes part of your occupation it must force you to look at death differently. How you deal with death becomes a key factor in what kind of solider you become.