e an outsider because the other’s behavior toward him changed, after they had read the citations. They knew that he hadn’t succeeded in the way they did. At that time he felt closer with a boy that didn’t have any medals, and who was only one day in the front line before he was wounded. That boy was in similar situation since he was wounded that early and didn’t manage to prove brave. He felt the same way but for a different reason, and he had a lot of common things to share with the American.Beside discrimination the American boy also felt the loss. This loss was not only presented through his inability to move the leg but also through inability to continue the life he was living before the war. This is presented at the point that the doctor of the hospital asked him what he could do best before the war, and if he practiced any sport. Although doctor told him that he would be able to play football even better than before, it doesn’t seem that it gave him back self-confidence and faith. The other main character is the major, who had problems with his arm and who didn’t believe that the therapy they were doing in the hospital would help. This unbelieving could be seen as soon as major was introduced in the story, since the answer at doctors question if he had confidence was negative. Although he didn’t believe in the machines, since they were new and they were the ones who should prove that they are working, he never missed a day. At one point he even said that all of that was nonsense and idiotic. Furthermore the major faced the loss of his wife, “whom he had not married until he was definitely invalided out of the war” (272). The effects that fear of loss had on him we can see throughout the conversation with the American soldier about the future. He became very vulnerable at the point when the American boy said that he wants to go back to the States and get married. He beli...
