Murph’s Photograph and Casualty Feeder Card Symbol Analysis

In his helmet, Murph keeps a photograph of his girlfriend and him, as well as a casualty feeder card that contains all the information necessary to identify his body if he dies. Throughout the course of the novel, these two objects represent Murph’s gradual detachment from life (culminating in his emotional breakdown and death), as well as Bartle’s attempt to come to terms with Murph’s death (culminating in the decision to let go of the past). Although Murph initially keeps the picture and the casualty feeder card in a Ziploc bag, revealing how much he cares about his home life and the protection of his own body, he later discards them, leaving them in a laundry bucket—an act that shows how disillusioned he has become with the war and that highlights his intention to die. When Bartle finds these objects, he decides to save them. However, after trying to keep Murph’s memory alive, Bartle ultimately throws the photograph and casualty feeder card in the river, revealing that he wants to feel free from the pain and guilt that Murph’s death evokes. Through their alternation of protection and abandonment, these objects thus reveal the evolution of Murph and Bartle’s relationship with memory, as each character initially wants to hold onto the past, before deciding—for various reasons—that they need to let it go. In making Murph and Bartle’s difficult relationships with the past and the future more visible, these concrete objects reflect the two characters’ potentially fatal struggles to remain sane without giving up on their essential identity as human beings.