" "Why was everybody so mad at everybody else?" I shook my head. "They weren't mad, exactly. Some people wanted one thing other people wanted another thing." - "What did you want?" - "Nothing," I said. "To stay alive." - "That's all?" - "Yes." " (pg. 175)
I think it was very important that Tim brought a child's perspective into this book. Taking his daughter to the land that caused him so much trouble must have definitely been an experience. He was bringing his daughter to a place where he was 20 years ago when he didn't know if he would get out alive, let alone have a family.
In the quotation above, Tim's daughter added an understatement to the book. Tim said all he wanted was to stay alive and she replied, "That's all?" Kathleen didn't know that staying alive was the goal for most of the soldiers there. Children are all so green and innocent. She didn't realize what she was saying, but it made sense to so many other people. Kathleen was too young to understand that her father didn't live on the grassy field and see butterflies when he woke up. She didn't see or know what was buried under that field. I think he father was okay with that.
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