How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"College is the coward's way out, sir. How can I go to college when guys I played football with are fighting in Vietnam? Eddie McNeil's missing in action." (2.25)
It turns out that part of the reason TJ enlisted is to prove himself—he wants to show that he's not running away to college out of fear. That's a tough motivator. No one thinks TJ is weak, but he's so bent out of shape proving that he's not that he signs up for a war instead. We're not saying that's the soundest logic we've ever heard, but it sure does show us how much fear can motivate people.
Quote #2
In the weeks before TJ left to join the Army, things around our house got loud and very quiet at the same time. (8.1)
Suddenly everyone is afraid. TJ is thinking more about fighting a war; the Colonel knows what his son is in for over there and doesn't think the guy's ready; Jamie's mom is scared her boy won't come home; and Jamie worries that she'll never get the chance to fight. All of them have fear in one way or another.
Quote #3
"Are you scared something might happen to him?" This was the one explanation I'd been able to come up with on my own. Sure, the Colonel was a big, tough guy, but even big, tough guys don't want their sons to get killed. (8.26)
There are two levels of fear here. First there's the fear that the Colonel has that something bad will happen to TJ; then there's Jamie's fear that her dad might not be as tough and pro-army as she once thought. Both are understandable, and both turn out to be true in the end.
Quote #4
Every once in a while he made me feel scared, the way his face got dark and cloudy over something he saw in one of TJ's pictures. But there wasn't ever a time when he didn't want to talk. (9.2)
It's not just the pictures that Jamie has to contend with—the soldiers' reactions to the pictures is what really worries her. We can't blame her. We bet it's scary to see a tough army guy get all clammy over some photos. They remind him of a dark time in his life that he'd probably just as soon forget.
Quote #5
One day after I'd developed a roll of film and had the negatives hanging from the line to dry, I realized I was squinting as I examined them. It was as though I only half wanted to see what was there. It was as though I was scared to look any closer. (9.33)
Jamie knows the pictures can't hurt her (physically), yet she fears what they have in store for her emotionally. She gets scared to even look at them. Jamie knows the pictures might show her something she's not ready to see, and it's tough to admit that to herself about something she loves as much as war.
Quote #6
"Ah, you know how it is when a guy's being sent off to war." Private Hollister leaned against the mop he was using to clean up spilled beer off the floor. "He gets a little wild. Mostly they're just scared, I guess, and covering it up by drinking and yelling." (10.5)
Hollister is Jamie's ticket into the army world. He helps her understand what it's really like for the soldiers since her dad doesn't exactly spill the beans. When they see people drinking, Jamie just brushes it off as a good time, but Hollister knows better—all that alcohol covers up the fear.
Quote #7
I started wondering how complicated Cindy's thoughts got about things. She knew Mark was fighting in Vietnam, but did she know what war looked like? Was she scared he wouldn't come home, or that he'd come home missing an arm or a leg? (11.21)
It's hard to answer that. Cindy doesn't understand what's happening around her like other people do. She knows her brother is fighting a war, and she even tells Jamie that's his job, yet she doesn't fear the outcome of war in the same way as many of the other families of soldiers.
Quote #8
"I thought college would keep TJ out of the war, but I was wrong. I thought I could keep him safe, but I was wrong about that, too." (13.33)
Regrettably, the Colonel admits he doesn't control the war as much as he would like. Even though it goes against every rule in the book (which he's a stickler for), the Colonel tried to keep TJ away from Vietnam because he's so scared of what might happen to him over there. He's motivated by fear more than anything else.
Quote #9
He meant that my brother was somewhere in Vietnam, but nobody knew exactly where, and nobody knew exactly what he was doing, or if he was doing anything at all. He might just be sitting there, on a half-rotten log in the jungle, a bamboo leaf tickling his ear, just sitting there and waiting for somebody to find him. (15.23)
When TJ goes missing, Jamie can't even process the information. She doesn't want to give into the fear that paralyzes her by thinking of the worst-case scenarios. Once she starts to imagine what might be happening to TJ, she starts freaking out about him being captured as a POW.
Quote #10
For two days I printed the moons over and over again, my hands shaking, my heart racing. And with every picture I printed, I grew more and more afraid. (16.7)
Jamie's scared because the pictures are of, well, the moon—they don't give any hints as to where TJ might be or what happened to him. All of her hopes are shattered when she comes to terms with the fact that there's absolutely nothing she can do to help her brother or figure out what happened to him.