In this chapter O’Brian talks about Henry Dobbins’ superstition with his girlfriend’s stockings. The stockings are a reminder of what he left back home and are essentially what keeps him going. It’s not so much the thought of his girlfriend as person, but her as a reminder of what he has to go home to after the war. The stockings are a sense of security that Dobbins has. This story affirms Henry Dobbins's notion that his girlfriend's stockings, which he ties around his neck, keep him from harm. At the same time, however, it emphasizes that this tactic is, in the end, nothing but superstition. Dobbins first rationalizes wearing the stockings because their smell and feel remind him of his girlfriend and of a safer world away from Vietnam. But even after their breakup, he continues to wear the stockings, saying that the magic is still there. Though his ex-girlfriend no longer offers herself as a source of comfort to him, he continues to think of her as one. I think people have superstitions because they need something to justify the way they think about things. Just like Dobbins believes that he will be safe with the stockings, people place their faith in inanimate objects to justify the way they think or believe. Some people have good luck charms, and others believe that if they do a certain thing it will bring them bad luck It seems that people have superstitions so that they can, in a way, feel safe, even though in reality, whatever they believe is only a superstition. For Dobbins, the stockings give him a sense of security and because it distracts him from the reality of the war, he is able to go about his day as he normally would and not preoccupied with the thoughts of dying at any moment. Because he is cushioned from reality, he is able to think clearly and ultimately live to see the end of the war.
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