The tattered soldier’s reaction to Jim’s death is one of awe. He continues to talk non-stop to Henry and to call Jim a real “jim-dandy.” Henry pays little attention to the tattered soldier’s ramblings until the soldier, trying to be sympathetic to Henry’s supposed wound, says, “Where is your’n located?” Henry tells him angrily, “Oh, don’t bother me.” Indeed, Henry walks away from the tattered soldier, leaving him in the field, even as the tattered soldier shows signs of becoming very disoriented from the effects of his wounds. Henry quickly forgets the tattered soldier and again begins to focus on his own condition, wishing he were dead, noting that the simple question asked by the tattered soldier is representative of a society that will not allow him to “keep his crime concealed in his bosom.”
