Dispatches Chapter Summary & Analysis - Chapter 1, Part III Breathing In Summary

Chapter 1, Part III Breathing In Summary and Analysis

Herr has dreams but does not remember them due to smoking marijuana before sleeping. Many combat soldiers try in one way or another to avoid dreaming, but this simply delays the inevitable. The subconscious has to sort out impressions from the senses, and with the sensory overloads of war, the dreams become torturous.

The Americans obtain marijuana in the mountains using cigarettes as trade. While getting stoned with a group of other soldiers, Herr encounters a soldier with a bag full of dried human ears. The author speaks to the way men go crazy in wartime and the commonality of body-part trophies. The author recalls how a soldier tried to intimidate him by pointing a rifle at his heart, and then joked about it when Herr objected. In another recollection, newly arrived correspondents ask many questions about the dangers of war, but the only...
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