As I read the book, I came to the realization that Tamura doesn’t look at Americans nor Filipinos to be the enemy, but rather the fight for his own survival during the war. War caused him to loose touch with reality and humanity. The challenges he faced while on his own, caused a breakdown of his own sanity.

Tamura never looks at his place in the war as being fate. This would normally be a Japanese way of looking at the situation. He faces this challenge with the idea of surviving extreme, harsh conditions presented him by the war. In order to survive such conditions he depends on certain material items that most would take for granted.

I was quite surprised as I began the book that upon rejection from his company, there was no sympathy, or loyalty given to him by his fellow soldiers. As stated in the book, "My squad leader slapped me in the face. You damned fool! He said. D’you mean to say you let them send you back here? If you’d told them at the hospital you had nowhere to go, they’d have to take care of you." The squad leader goes on to tell Tamura that there is no room for him in the company. This cod, callous reaction doesn’t seem typical of the comradeship typically displayed by soldiers during wartime. Normally one would think loyalty, friendship, sacrifice, and brotherhood would be displayed among soldiers within a company. Tamura didn’t have a life threatening illness, however, he did have a small hemorrhage he was able to overcome.

This novel is not only about war, but about the effects disaster can have on a common man. It portrays a human being in the worst conditions, from starvation, to murder, to the desire to commit cannibalism. This book displays that any human with the instinct to survive such harsh conditions may succumb to any extreme in order to survive.

Anyone exposed to the harsh effects of war, as Tamura was, would doubt their chances of survival. Tamura is able to out live most of his fellow soldiers and manages to maintain a sense of humor in spite of his hardships. He never feels sorry for himself, even during the worst times. His sense of humor seems to enlighten the situation. Through his journey alone he comes upon a church. While, in the church, he finds some books. His reaction to this is "Why would a Philippine priest be reading detective novels." There are many times throughout the novel that he is able to sustain some bit of humor needed to maintain his sanity.

A recurring theme of degradation occurs all throughout the book. Tamura is exposed to extreme conditions as he searches for food and shelter in order to survive. These two items are his primary focus as he struggles for survival. His quest for these two items drive him to a gradual physical and mental breakdown throughout the novel.

In the beginning, he is able to find a group of soldiers who are in the same predicament as he, outside of the hospital. All have illnesses and as a result have been rejected from their companies. These soldiers are searching for food and shelter to survive, as is Tamura. Each soldier perhaps would have one or two potatoes in his possession. If one did have any food items in his possession it was not known or shared with the other soldiers. This would cause fights or possibly even death.

One morning as the soldiers awoke to the sound of gunfire at extremely close range, doctors and nurses were seen running from the hospital. Tamura decides to begin a journey to the forest on his own. He watches from the hillside as the hospital is bombed, with the idea that he should return to help his fellow soldiers. With this thought, Tamura begins to laugh realizing these soldiers are the least of his concerns. His main concern is to fend for himself.

Another incident that occurs to further elaborate on the idea of degradation is when Tamura is lead to murder a Filipino woman. Tamura finds his way into a presbytery where he decides to spend the night. When he wakes the next morning he hears two voices, one being the voice of a woman and the other a man. He realizes these two are entering into the presbytery. When they arrive he stomps his feet to gain their awareness. He exits the room where he was sleeping and moves towards both of them with his rifle. The woman screeches in fear. His immediate reaction was to fire. This reaction caused him to shoot the woman in the breast, killing her. He attempts to shoot the man, but the gun had not been reloaded. The man ran from the building. Tamura questions whether this was fate or a flaw in his character that led him to commit such a brutal crime. Tamura is able to salt, which the couple had stored beneath the floorboards in the presbytery. He realizes he needs the salt to survive. Tamura points out, "These crystals were things of great value, both to those who still belonged to humankind and to myself. They were salt."

The salt only lasted so long as did the potatoes that Tamura was able to find. As time advances and his struggle continues Tamura is overcome by hunger. He begins to consider cannibalism. The thought remains on his mind for some time. He comes across many dead bodies that have pieces missing, which could only be from other soldiers feasting on them.

Tamura thinks to himself, "My mind had dropped the habit of logical reasoning, and it was not until one day I happened to notice a body that still retained some trace of living suppleness and suddenly felt the desire to eat its flesh that the answer dawned on me." Tamura struggles with this thought throughout the book. He is unable to give in to such temptation. In one part of the book a soldier who is dying offers to give Tamura his arm. He still does not feel that this is morally right and turns against the idea of cannibalism.

Eventually, Tamura feeds on leeches to survive. This means of food lasts only for a time. He then comes across one of the soldiers who resided outside of the hospital in the beginning. Nagamatsu offers him some food. He tells Tamura that it is monkey meat. I’m not sure that Tamura believes it is monkey meat, but nevertheless, eats the meat and enjoys it. Tamura stays with Nagamatsu and Nagamatsu’s friend, Yusada. Nagamatsu does not trust Yusada and tells Tamura to watch out for him. Tamura has a grenade in his bag, which Yusada steals. Yusada attempts to kill them both with Tamura’s grenade, however, they see this coming and Nagamatsu kills Yusada. At this point, Nagamatsu chops off the hands and feet of Yusada, and Tamura comes to the realization that all along, he had not been eating money meat, but rather human flesh. As a result, Tamura becomes enraged and disgusted, and kills Nagamatsu. An essay by Rachel Bevard.

In order to help survive Tamura looks to Christianity for support. Tamura’s focus on Christianity throughout the book, plays a role that leads to his insanity. He hears voices that speak to him. These voices state verses from the Bible. In the incident where he is tempted to eat the soldiers arm, he hears a voice that says, "Let not they left hand know what thy right hand doeth!" It was not the voice of the woman I had killed. No, it was that great, hollow voice which had called to me in the village church. "Arise, I say unto thee, Arise!" It boomed in my ears and I stood up." It is this voice that keeps him from cannibalism. He hears the voice again later in the book. Tamura sees flowers falling from the sky and the voice states, "If God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?"

Tamura views his murdering Nagamatsu as a religious mission from God. He feels that he has been sent as an angel from God to punish the sinful man. I see this relation and focus on God, as Tamura’s attempt to rationalize his actions and retain as much normality as possible.

Tamura is able to live with the fact that, yes, he murdered, but was not driven to eat the bodies. Faced with the extremities he was confronted he was able to overcome such temptation. It is with this idea that Tamura is able to comfort and reassure himself. With all that he suffered, he was able to overcome the temptation to kill a fellow soldier and eat his flesh. With all he had seen and lived through, it had been his pride that kept him going, knowing that he did not succumb to the worst temptations. Not long after he kills Nagamatsu his memory breaks off.