The Ogre Day II

I think Tournier accurately depicts how soldiers or anyone involved in war must find a way to detach themselves from it in order not to go crazy. They find little hobbies that often turn into obsessions because they serve as an escape from the horrors of war. For the Colonel Puyjalon, it was gardening and his "worst fear was having to change sector before he could pick his young carrots and peas." It is somewhat humors that a colonel's worst fear should be concerning his garden and not the lives of his squadron. For Bertold, and by extension Tiffauges, the pigeons are their escape and comrades during the war. Tiffauge detaches himself to the extent where it seems he's hardly aware or conscious of the war raging around him. "This war, the "phony war" as it was called at the time into which they'd all been hurled pell-mell and in which they stared at each other in jovial or peevish bewilderment as the case might be, was his thing, his personal affair, even though it frightened him and was infinitely beyond him." (140) After re-reading that quote I would say I'm probably wrong about his being "unconscious" of the war, but he certainly does his best to separate himself from it as all soldiers do.

I was nothing short of horrified when I read that they had cooked three of Tiffauges's pigeons. It was incredibly sad and I was surprised that Tiffauges didn't react in any way other than to sit in a corner and brood. I was even more surprised to find him feeling that he should be the one to eat them. Were they my pets, not only would I not be able to even imagine eating them myself, I would prevent others from eating them too, even if they were already cooked.
I was going to say that his indifference is surprising but I don't think it is necessarily indifference because he does care and is upset at the death of his birds. But he has a certain detachment from the situation. Or else he has become so introverted because of being treated with disdain by others for his whole life (with the exception of Nestor) that even in times of sever emotional distress he does not act out or draw attention to himself. This part was really upsetting but also I suppose to be expected because it is a war and when food is scarce animals, even pets have to be sacrificed but it still was unnerving.