The dream

While sedated, Joe has a dream of the woman who is searching for her son from the beginning of the book. Her son was only 16 and was given the choice to go to prison or go to war. He begins to see the son walking through the desert of Tucson and he envisions the young man as Christ. In his dream Christ comes to the train station and plays cards with Joe and other men who are going off to war and are going to die. Christ provides a glass of scotch for each of the men. Each of them start telling off their stories about how they are going to experience a horrible death when one man points out that Joe will not die in battle. Once Joe points out what his destiny is all of the men feel terrible for him and would much rather die than end up like him. The men let him be and Christ gets up because he has plenty more men to see before they die. As the train leaves, Joe feels lonely on a train with a bunch of men going to their deaths so he jumps off and runs across the desert. he throws himself at what seems to be Christ. I thought the dream was a little ironic especially since in the next chapter Joe figures out that it is Christmas because his new nurse writes with her fingernail on his chest. I think the dream was not only odd but metaphorical. Because Joe is the dead man who has been brought back to life. He isn't completely dead but he isn't fully alive much like Christ in a way. Christ sacrificed himself and then came back to life after his scarification much like Joe. Joe sacrificed his life for his country and he came back alive but barely. He is relating himself a little to Christ because of that and he is really the only one who knows his pain and knows what it's like to be dead and come back and have people forget about him .