"'Why's she dancing?' Azar said, and Henry Dobbins said it didn't matter why, she just was."(p. 129)
there are many things that I'll never understand. some things are pretty concrete, like how it is that John Steinbeck created the entire storyline for "The Grapes of Wrath" before writing a single word. or quantum physics. stuff like that. pretty concrete. there are other more abstract things, like how people can choose to focus solely on negative aspects of something, rather than finding something positive to work on. I think that's the beauty in this tiny little chapter too. while all these soldiers are taken aback by the horror and tragedy that they've come across, they find this little girl dancing. she's found something positive that she's going to express, and that's all. she doesn't feel a need to mourn outwardly right now, even though all her family is dead. this dance is her release. in some way, she is mourning, but in her own way.
Azar doesn't understand this. Dobbins didn't really either, but he respected it enough that he wasn't about to let someone else disrespect it. it's a basic respect that gets shown. it's a beautiful lesson: just because you don't understand something, doesn't mean you can't respect it.
nicely put
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