Zero Day

Puller plays the sacrificial redeemer role with his father. As a child, he sacrificed his own need for acknowledgment to salve his father’s fragile ego. With his father’s gradual decline, he now sacrifices any hope that his father will ever see him for himself. Instead, he plays into his father’s delusion that Puller is one of his subordinate officers, even though the charade chips away at Puller’s sense of reality.

Puller also acts out the role of redeemer by forgiving mistakes and allowing second chances to people who genuinely deserve them. It’s a continuation of the role he plays for his father except that he expects other people to meet a certain moral standard that Puller Sr. falls short of. There is no one in Puller’s life to give him the same grace he grants to others. His brother Robert is the only one who would be there for him no matter what, but Robert is behind bars.

When the Army makes the mistake of leaving nuclear material unsecured in the Bunker, Puller is prepared to risk his own life to clean up their mess. He accepts the task without complaint or resentment just as for most of his life, he has accepted his father’s failings, but this time, Puller is finally offered grace himself.