How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
TJ unwrapped a piece of gum he'd had in his jeans pocket and folded up the foil wrapper into a shiny triangle. He chewed the gum for a minute, then stuck it to the foil triangle and stuck the triangle to my T-shirt. (2.10)
Back when they were playing war as kids, TJ gives Jamie a medal. Okay, okay, it's a piece of gum wrapper, stuck on by gum—still, though, it's precious to Jamie because it symbolizes her bravery and military prowess. Even more importantly, this memory comforts Jamie when she thinks about her brother.
Quote #2
Every once in a while the Colonel pulled out the box of things he'd saved growing up, when he had traveled all over the place just like we did, from this post to that one. He showed us ticket stubs from train trips through Germany and Italy, and matchbooks he'd collected from restaurants in just about every American city you could think of. (2.15)
For the Colonel, showing his kids his ticket stubs and matchbooks is a way of reliving the past; it allows him to remember going to those places, and what it was like to travel there. His desire to show off his memorabilia highlights his positive feelings toward these travels for the army.
Quote #3
Colonel replied, his fork halfway to his mouth, strings of cheese stretching to his plate. "I think he's probably thinking about this squash casserole right now and remembering how soft his pillow upstairs is." (4.31)
As Jamie tries to imagine what it's like for her brother at war, her dad shocks her by saying he probably misses home. The Colonel is certain that TJ thinks about the food and people at home to help him deal with the war. In a way, he's using the past to deal with the present.
Quote #4
Private Hollister was quiet for a minute. I wondered if he was going through a list of buddies, trying to remember if everybody was still accounted for. (7.26)
Some memories aren't worth talking about. Hollister doesn't have to think long and hard about his brother's death during the war to make him upset, and Jamie can tell right away that he's bothered when talking about it. It turns out not everybody has happy memories of the past.
Quote #5
"They might have been biting something, but it wasn't anything dangling off the end of my hook. Still, the scenery was great and the beer was flowing, and I have lots of warm and fuzzy memories." (9.22)
Byrd went fishing a couple weeks ago on leave and had a grand old time… he thinks. From what he can remember of it, he had fun. Still, that might have just been the alcohol. There's a big difference between the way he talks about his memories of fishing (lighthearted and happy) and the war (dark and haunting).
Quote #6
I remembered something that Sgt. Byrd had told me, that he dreamed about Vietnam almost every night, and some nights he woke up to find himself crouched in the dark between the bunks in his barracks, his whole body alert, listening. (10.31)
Doesn't sound like fun to us—we can see why Byrd would just as soon forget the past, though it keeps creeping back into his life. There's another form of memory happening here, too: Jamie is remembering someone else's memory. Weird, right? We can tell that she's never had that experience at war, but she's still disturbed by it.
Quote #7
In a way, it's like we'd been soldiers together. I wondered if he still remembered how that felt. One thing I knew for sure when I saw him after basic training was that he'd forget the old days soon enough, if he hadn't already. He was headed for a real combat zone. (12.7)
The funny thing about memory is that two people can have the exact same experience but remember it differently. Jamie wonders how TJ remembers playing war together back when they were kids. For her, it's the time she felt closest to him, but that might not be the way he remembers it.
Quote #8
"You used to be, remember?" I was scrambling, trying hard as I could to win the Colonel to my side. "Mom told us that you used to get up on the roof and jingle bells and stomp around like a reindeer." (13.19)
Trying to remind her dad of a more playful side, Jamie talks about when he used to dress up as Santa. Of course, that was back when she was a kid, though; her use of the past to make him happy in the present says a lot about the guy. Jamie thinks he'll only be himself again if things go back to the way they were.
Quote #9
"Too many memories. I look at all my negatives and I ask myself, why do I want to remember that?" (14.24)
Jamie can't understand why Byrd has so much film that he hasn't developed. He's not sure if it's good to develop photos from the war that will just remind him of all the horrible stuff he saw. Pool guy. Why would he want to relive something that he works so hard to forget?
Quote #10
"You keep it," he said, when I tried to hand it back to him. "Just so you remember all the good times we had playing. That's about the most fun I've ever had playing cards. It ain't fun unless you're playing with somebody who knows what they're doing." (14.36)
Everyone is big on mementos, and here, Hollister gives Jamie their scorecard so she can think about how much fun they had later on. When he gives it to her, Jamie thinks she might cry (but of course, she doesn't so she doesn't ruin her street cred).