The Things They Carried Star in His Eye

One of my favorite scenes/stories in the book is "The Man I Killed". I like it especially because O'Brien masterfully uses repetition. He keeps in reiterating the wounds he inflicted and, thus, the manner he killed the many. More specifically, he mentions many times the star shaped hole in his eye and the fact that his throat is in his neck (though the throat in the neck is mentioned a little bit less; the focus is on the eye). His continuous use of this statement combined with Kiowa's questions/comments that are met only with silence gives off the impression that O'Brien is broken. It's heartbreaking and I would say probably one of the saddest parts of the book, with the exception of the baby water buffalo which was completely massacred. I think the choice of the phrase "star-shaped" is especially interesting because it, in and of itself, is not threatening or dark. It's almost whimsical, and O'Brien's use of the phrase adds to the feeling that he is in some sort of trance-like state, and that he is lost in himself. The mention of the star-shaped hole in other stories also functions to connect everything a little bit better. Perhaps the connotations stars have as being heavenly bodies and connected to some sort of afterlife also provides some deeper symbolic meanings as well.