At this point the nuclear holocaust begins and bombs fall on the most important bases in the U.S.A. and allied bases. Another important characteristic of modernism present in this story is when Randy tells Dan that Peyton is blind. "Oh God! Why? Why to that child? ... God had nothing to do with it. This was strictly man-made" (103) represents disillusionment toward the human race because it is our nature to destroy instead of creating. Instead of creating good things that can save lives, we create things that destroy and harm living organisms. Disillusionment is an important characteristic of modernism because after WW1 people had seen many horrors of war, and the cold war is a perfect example of the horrors that could have happened, but luckily never did occur. Another example of disillusionment is when Edgar commits suicide because he strongly believed that money was everything. Many people committed suicide after the Great Depression because money was just paper.
