Throughout The Things They Carried O’Brien consistently challenges perceived notions. In the chapter “The Dentist” he addresses the idea that soldiers are always confident and fearless. The character, Curt Lemon, embodies the macho and cocky soldier stereotype. During the chapter, O’Brien conveys a tone of disdain towards this character. He states “when Curt Lemon was killed, I found it hard to mourn” (82). Lemon constantly takes risks and pulls dangerous stunts, thus giving O’Brien a low opinion of him. When a dentist comes to the camp to give the soldiers routine dental work, Lemon becomes tense because of bad experiences with dentists from his childhood. When he faints before the dentist begins working, O’Brien realizes his false bravado
