“The two generals spent the afternoon up on the hill coining fine phrases like a pair of wags.”

Amid the violence and The Effects of Trauma evident in Inman’s memories, he fixates on the image of the generals making flippant remarks while they watch over the battle. To Inman, their behavior reveals the truth: The soldiers are expendable assets, taught to hate each other while supposedly rival generals mock their sacrifice. Inman’s realization motivates his desertion.

“He had been keeping a tally of omens and portents from around the county.”

The Swangers have lost children due to the war, contributing to their broader disillusionment with the war. Unlike Inman, who deserts from the army, their disillusionment is more abstract. They search for omens and portents to justify their lack of faith in the fight, hoping that their faith will align with their beliefs and justify their lack of apparent patriotism.

“When he put a hand to his neck, he found fresh blood where his wound had cracked open and leaked, from the strain of whipping the three men or from the soaking in the river.”

Inman’s neck wound had partially healed when he deserted, but the run-in with the trio of attackers reopens his old wound. The reopening of the neck wound symbolizes the ease with which The Effects of Trauma can return to him. He cannot escape the war in an emotional sense, even as he tries to escape it in a physical sense.