Chapter 14 Summary

This is another very short chapter. The men encounter a young girl of about 14, and she is dancing, though there is no music and her entire hamlet has burned down. She dances slowly with a smile on her face, which seems to irritate Azar, who repeatedly asks, "Why's she dancing?" He finally says he just doesn't get it and writes it off as some kind of ritual - no, Henry Dobbins says, she just likes to dance. Later, when Azar mocks the girl's dancing, Dobbins picks him up and asks him if he wants to be dumped into a well. When he says no, Dobbins says, "All right, then ... dance right."

Chapter 14 Analysis

This chapter shows that the soldiers are not unique in their ability to slip away from reality and create their own truth in order to cope. The young girl has...