Pieces

Books. It never comes to our mind that a book (any kind of book for that matter) is only part of that specific story; especially war-based books. They only talk about the tragedy that is the war and what they went through. It never talks about the happy(er) parts such as: life after they got rescued, who they met up with, their first meal as free people or just the ride on the way back from where they had been captive.
Maybe that’s how the unfortunate people who are affected by the war, the targets, lived. Maybe, half of them don’t really know what’s going on in the war as a whole, but more so what they see on a day to day basis. Being that this character had to look for information on a war that he had been victim of and had presenced first hand gives us an insight of how much information they really got. Maybe the fear was just ignorance in disguise.

“My name is Yon Yonson,
I work in Wisconsin,
I work in a lumbermill there.
The people I meet when I walk down the street,
They say, “what’s your name?”
And I say,
My name is Yon Yonson,
I work in Wisconsin…”
I think he mentions this song various times because the information is limited and what is the question seems to be the answer. by that making a circle leaving you just as ignorant as before.That's the way war's work: keeping the victims ignorant.
That’s also why the main character constantly repeats the name of his friend, Bernard V. O’Hare. To make sure you don’t out on miss anything. That you’re in on every joke and know every detail.