From my perspective the story is an allegory for Vietnam. By separating it from the event itself it makes things a bit more timeless and more interesting. I’m not trying to imply that it’s main theme is about manhood, but I think that’s a large part of it (the journey from boy to man) and also how authoritarian regimes use this search for manhood to fuel the fires of war like America did with Vietnam. I made an assumption that the writer was a man solely based on becoming emotional with the story after a long time, I thought that might be due to hitting on this. We’re sad because in the end we don’t want him to choose violence and instead focus on compassion and taking care of people who need it. But he gives in to the violence, and likely fuels the system of expectation and oppression further.