Superstition

journal 7
In the novel, superstitions are spoken about mainly with Henry Dobbins. Henry Dobbins has a girlfriend who he thinks about each day at Vietnam. Even though he doesn’t see her, he keeps her in his mind by wearing her pantyhose around his neck for “good luck”. He manages to avoid and survive a land mine as well as a firefight he is engaged in. With his superstition he believes wearing the pantyhose around his neck he believes he is kept out of danger and it is a positive superstition. Even after he gets dumped he keeps it around him to keep him safe in Vietnam.
There are both negative and positive superstitions that people think about. Some say they are just in people’s heads and not true, however others believe they are true. For instance, some people believe that having an umbrella open inside a house is bad luck. Therefore, they would never open their umbrella inside their house because they believe something bad will happen to them. Another superstition that reflects bad luck, is walking under a open ladder or seeing a black cat cross. Mainly people keep their superstitions in their head and stay away from them. Good superstitions such as the one Henry Dobbins has are reflected in the way people act or do specific things.
I really don’t have many superstitions that I can think of, however, I’m sure I do have some superstitions that I just can’t think about but are always there in my head.
Also, many superstitions come from heritage or culture. There are some people that have superstitions based on their religion or something that their parents taught them which they learned when they were little. For example, clay hamsa on a wall is believe to protect the inhabitants of the house from harm, and scarabs on stone bring good luck to people in Egypt. Superstitions are very personal and can be either good or bad.