Compare and contrast the fat man and the women: their appearence, mood, approach to life.what is their role in the story?

I would say that a very interesting contrast can take
place between the fat man and the mother.  The mother is relatively silent throughout
most of the story.  She appears inconsolable, and represents the fragmentation that
accompanies war, and was certainly present in the First World War.  In contrast, the fat
man enters the railroad car with purpose and intent.  He understands the guiding
structure and moral order that helps to fully help bring meaning into his own sense of
existence.  This transcendent vision is something that he is able to articulate to the
indecision and doubt that permeates the car.  When he is done, one actually is able to
embrace the fat man's vision of totality.  It is at this moment where we see a quick and
sudden role reversal, as the woman asks her question and the man's response is one of
inconsolable grief.  In the end, the roles that opened the story are inverted at the
story's end, only fragmentation and disorder being the sole
constants.