Where Have you Gone Charming Billy?

The setting of a rice paddy during the war and a mood of hopelessness make the reader feel depressed and empathetic to PFC Paul Berlin.  The author uses phrases like "in the dark" and "very quiet" to describe Berlin's surroundings.  This instantly shows the reader that this place is depressing and not somewhere you would choose to be, and, thus, the reader feels bad for Berlin.  Then, the author describes what Berlin wishes life was like: "He was pretending he was a boy again, camping with his father in the midnight summer along the Des Moines River."  This point of Berlin's past is unreachable for him, which leads to hopelessness and causes readers to be depressed and hurt for him.