Previous Next

Dave Jensen is one of the soldiers in Tim’s platoon. After breaking the nose of a fellow soldier, Lee Strunk, Dave grows so paranoid that Lee is going to take violent revenge on him that he breaks his own nose with the butt of his rifle to even the score. The two men grow to share a unique sort of trust and friendship. Their relationship hinges on a shared promise – that if either of them becomes severely wounded in a way that would disable him for life, the other will kill him.

Their pact is tested when Lee’s leg is blown off at the knee. With Lee begging Dave not to kill him, Dave’s response is obvious – he assures Lee that he won’t, and he speaks calmly and kindly to him until his friend is lifted onto the rescue chopper. However, although Dave’s choice not to fulfill his pact and kill Lee is entirely understandable, he seems uncertain of his decision. The pact was a serious one, and while Dave couldn’t follow through with it in the end, there’s a sense that he may have failed to act on an important obligation. He took on the difficult responsibility of ending another person’s life, but when the moment came, he found himself incapable of living up to that responsibility. When he discovers that Lee died in the chopper on the way to the hospital, he’s relieved. Dave couldn’t keep his promise, but the universe kept it for him. Lee’s death, caused by trauma and blood loss, has released Dave from the burden of carrying with him forever the uncertainty of whether or not he made the right decision.

Previous section Lee Strunk Next section Azar

Popular pages: The Things They Carried

Take a Study Break