"Where Have You Gone Charming Billy?"

In the excerpt from O'Brien's "Where Have You Gone Charming Billy?" the author uses a dangerous setting and creates a mysterious and ominous mood to make the reader sympathize with the character PFC Paul Berlin. The dangerous setting of the war appeals to the emotions of the reader. The excerpt decribes various hardships of war like the death of fellow soldiers and the fear. This makes us question what may happen later on and makes us concerned for the safety of the character. The author's word choice contibutes to his mood. He uses words such as "dark", "primitive", "afraid", "shadows", etc. which all have negative connotations, contributing to the dark and onimous mood. This mood again makes the reader concerned for the safety of the character and sympathize with him in the many hardships during war.