“Large tracts of the area looked like the surface of the moon now, cratered and denuded. It was a process called surface mining. To Reed a better term was surface annihilation. But this was West Virginia, and coal provided the bulk of the good-paying jobs. So Reed didn’t make a fuss about his home being flooded by a fly ash sludge storage pond giving way. Or about well water that turned black and smelled like rotten eggs. Or about air that was routinely full of things that did not mix well with human beings. He didn’t complain about his remaining kidney or his damaged liver and lungs from living around such toxic elements. He would be viewed as anti-coal and thus anti-jobs.”

The story opens by introducing the theme of environment versus economy. Individuals are forced to watch their health and their world deteriorate, helpless even to complain. Even someone like Reed, who doesn’t work directly for the mine, would have no employment without the ever-decreasing money that the mine feeds into the community.

“[Reed] knew a few privileged folks were making a fortune off the coal seams. It was just that none of them happened to live around here.”

Desperate as they are for what jobs the mine still provides, the people of Drake scrabble for scraps. Surface mining requires less manpower than older methods, leaving greater profits for the owners.

“[Puller] had never walked into combat carrying uncontrolled anger, because that made you weak. And weakness made you fail.”

Control is of paramount importance to Puller, not merely because combat requires an unclouded mind but because control is one of the rules hammered into him by his autocratic father. Over the course of the story, Puller learns that there are times when the ability to shed tears is a sign of strength, and rigid control can be a weakness.