In stanza 3, Whitman moves onto the second person who was laid out on a stretcher. Here Whitman describes a young boy with sweet cheeks because he wants to show the innocence of that child by saying “sweet cheeks” being in an environment of impurity and corruption. The boy was mentioned because Whitman wants us to know how awful the war was. Whitman includes in his poem 2 similar questions on who that old man and young child were it is possible that Whitman wanted us to understand that war changes you and so he asks that question because he feels like they have lost their own identity.
