7. Anecdote

In the next section, The Dentist, O'Brien begins talking about Curt Lemon again. He starts off talking about his death, but then he suddenly sways the topic away from death and gives an anecdote from pages 82-84 about the February afternoon when "...an Army dentist was choppered in to check our teeth and do minor repair work." The anecdote was used to "guard against" O'Brien becoming sentimental over Lemon's death, as he states on page 82. This section shows how brave and macho these men feel like they have to be. O'Brien cannot get sentimental about death and Lemon is ashamed that he fainted at the dentist, so much so that he makes the dentist rip out a tooth, just so he won't seem so sheepish. I believe this is still true of a lot of men these days today also though. Not all, but most men seem to have trouble showing their sensitive sides and always try to act braver than they actually are. (No offense to the men out there, it's just a natural difference between guys and girls). I guess that is one thing that makes this novel timeless. The same rules still apply.