How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The Japanese were winning the Pacific. Our fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, had been the one deterrent to Japan dominating virtually all the Pacific islands. And now that Pearl Harbor had been crippled, the Japanese were clearly dominant. (1.45)
When we think of World War II, we tend to think of Europe and that mustachioed guy, Hitler. But the Pacific was the big battleground that the Americans and the Japanese fought over during the war.
Quote #2
A Marine floated nearby, his sightless blue eyes staring up at foreign sky […] My body went cold. My throat tightened up, and I struggled for breath [...] After that, I did my best not to look at the faces of the dead. (1.61)
This is Chester's first glimpse of a dead body in war. And it raises the question, how does he deal with death when it's all around him?
Quote #3
We pushed bodies and parts of bodies aside, some looking more like raw beef than the limbs of human beings, fought our way forward, and finally fell gasping on the beach. (1.64)
This quotation gives us a sense of how war dehumanizes people through death. The floating corpses look less like human beings than pieces of "raw beef." No, we don't want to eat that.