Checkers

"I remember Norman Bowker and Henry Dobbins playing checkers every evening before dark. It was a ritual...The rest of us would sometimes stop by to watch. There was something restful about it, something orderly and reassuring. There were red checkers and black checkers. The playing field was laid out in a strict grid, no tunnels or mountains or jungles. You knew where you stood. You knew the score. The pieces were out on the board, the enemy was visible, you could watch the tactics unfolding into larger strategies. There was a winner and a loser. There were rules." Page 31

I found this paragraph very insightful. It showed, without directly saying it, what the soldiers' feelings towards the war were. This passage discusses the structured game of checkers. Honestly, the game is not very interesting. However, the men watched because the game was comforting. The description O'Brien gives seems to highlight certain details because of their opposition to the structure of the war. There are no sneak attacks or lurking enemies. These soldiers were living in an unfamiliar world and they had no idea what to expect from their opponents. This classic game was a small escape from reality.