Most of the characters have been dismembered in some way by it (Fred Mensch, Barbara Nixon, Greg Nixon, p.2-3). All of them suffer. However, not all them are destroyed. Madox and Almasy increasingly become emotionally involved with the war. They are not able to detach themselves from it. Therefore, they do not survive. On the other hand, Hana and Kip manage to remain detached. At the end of the war, they are suffering, but still alive. Madox is the only one of the characters that is not directly involved in the war. He is a "desert man" (p.162) and is easily irritated even by as little as thin air. His reaction of his "disillusionment with nations warring against nations" (Fred Mensch, Barbara Nixon, Greg Nixon, p.2) is like suicide (p.242), symbolizing how easily he gets upset by the news that there will soon be a war. Amongst all of the terrible situations and suffering, in some way, for all of them, except for Madox, a great love emerges from it.
Unlike Madox, Almasy is greatly involved in World War II. Katherine Clifton, wife of Jeffery Clifton, a cartographer, was the woman that he loved most in his life. Almasy desperately needed to return to the cave where he hid Katherine after the plane accident in the desert. Like Madox, Almasy is a man of the desert. For example, in the novel, he says, "Everything that ever happened to me that was important happened in the desert" (p.177). Therefore, this reaction for his love of the desert is deep and nothing can compare to it, or that appeals to him in his life. His love for the desert symbolizes his hot and passionate nature. Also, he even sings "Sometime a horse I"ll be, sometime a hound. A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire." (p.115) symbolizing his association with fire. However, he is unable to remain detached when he falls in love with Katherine, even though she is married. He is later "disassembled" (p.155) by "Katherine's death" which leaves a great absence in him, an absence so strong he refuses to reclaim any name, which he feels was the reason his love was left to die in the cave.