“But it was the kind of stillness that you see in a rabbit when it freezes and before it will bolt. He was not easy. He sat in his chair gripping the armrests with all his might, as if the chair itself was moving at a high speed and if he let go at all he would rocket forward and maybe crash right through the set.”

After Henry Junior returns from Vietnam, Lyman observes his brother’s trauma with increasing concern. Lyman compares Henry Junior to a rabbit to highlight that he is perpetually frightened and vulnerable even though he is no longer in any immediate danger. The image of Henry Junior as both completely still and ready to rocket forward is a clear and heartbreaking illustration of the severe effects of post-traumatic stress disorder. The suggestion that he appears as if he may “rocket” out of his chair also evokes imagery of war and destruction. It is likely the images Henry Junior is witnessing as he sits in front of the television set are similarly violent and keep him psychologically trapped in Vietnam.

“There are two shadows curved like little hooks around the ends of his smile, as if to frame it and try to keep it there—that one, first smile that looked like it might have hurt his face. He has his field jacket on and the worn-in clothes he'd come back in and kept wearing ever since.”

Just before the story’s climax, the narration jumps forward in time to an unspecified date after Henry Junior’s death. Lyman is haunted by the last photograph taken of Henry Junior because it so clearly depicts the trauma Henry Junior is experiencing. The imagery of the hooks holding up Henry Junior’s smile is macabre and evokes feelings of pain and injury as if Henry Junior himself is a fish caught on the end of a line. The hooks also metaphorically suggest Henry Junior’s smile is hitched up as if by a puppeteer. The smile is a false one meant to mask the trauma and pain he feels within. The fact that he continues to wear his military jacket is an obvious indication that his time in Vietnam is the source of his trauma.