Character Question...

Later, when the history of David's mother is revealed and David is told that his mother had been helped by a guard at the prison camp where she had been taken, David reasons that the guard loved his mother, took care of David, and grew into the man in the camp, eventually freeing David in the name of that love. Why the man kept David in the camp for so long without finding another way to get him back to his mother is never explained, although David has an idea that although he had saved her child out of love, the man resented the woman's not loving him in return and therefore kept David prisoner. In any case, the man is a complex presence throughout the entire narrative, the mystery of his motives providing an effectively engaging subplot/counterpoint to the main plot/narrative line.