no matter how hard she tried to believe it. Yet as a result of her night on her own, Sam is even more aware of her father and her loss. She’s finally truly feeling his death for the first time (p.229). Now, at long last, Sam is able to confront the truth of her loss, the authority of her experience, and the effect that Vietnam had on her life. This is why she and Emmett go to the War Memorial. She and her father share a surname. They are related, but they are different, too. In her solitude, Sam has begun to realize the value of her personal role in the production of meaning, truth, and self....
