In the short story, "Salem", by Robert Olen Butler, the main character changes from being indifferent to becoming sympathetic. In the beginning, the man, who participates in the Vietnam War, is listless to the people he kills. The narrator thinks about one of the American soldiers, "And then I came down from the tree and moved to this dead body and I could see the wounds but they did not affect me" (27). During the war the main character kills a lot of people, but he does not think about their feelings and families. The narrator realizes that he kills that soldier, but it does not hurt his soul. Later, the Vietnamese soldier tries to understand the thoughts and feelings of that guy. The narrator scrutinizes the pack of Salem cigarettes that he finds in the pocket of the American soldier. Also he finds a picture of the guy's wife in that pack. "But as I took more closely at these objects and think more clearly, I realize I should not have been surprised at the sentimentality of this American soldier. I am confused in my thinking" (31). As time passes, the narrator starts to realize that the American soldier has a wife, who waits for her husband. Also he understands that the soldier loves his wife. The main character even tries to compare that guy's wife with his own. At the end of the story, the narrator wants to help the wife of the American soldier. He decides to return the picture to the government, "But I know at once that his wife will go to a place and she will look through many pictures and she will at last see her own face and then she will know what she must know"( ). By the end of the story, the Vietnamese soldier has understood that he needs to return the picture of the American soldier's wife to the government. He wants that woman to know that her husband is dead. So when she sees her photo she understands that her husband is killed, but also she realizes that he loves he...