Today's session addressed analyzing and writing on the symbolic significance of the river as well the author's shifting the novel's point of view from the first person to the second person in certain passages . Joshua did well identifying the river as both a geographical and metaphorical dividing line between the war and its indiscriminate violence and a life without death and war. I then addressed Lt Henry's escape in the river as a symbolic baptism where Lt Henry emerges with a new identify clean of the sins of war and the murders he has committed in its name. I then assisted Joshua in constructing a paragraph on the symbolism of the river using a topic sentence, quotes from the novel, and commentary explaining how the quote relates to and supports the topic sentence. We further tied the significance of the river to Lt Henry's discarding his uniform as he sheds his former identity as a soldier .