“If you could figure out how to live with family then you'd gone a long way toward finding your peace.”
Billy reflects on his past around his family and comrades henceforth the narrative also focuses on the familial relationship. Through the flashbacks, Billy finds out more about himself and his family by how he grew up. He also highlights the comradely relationship built during combat among soldiers who face their mortality on a daily basis. Moreover, a flashback of his past sees him defending his sister’s honor after her boyfriend leaves her following a car accident. The assertion, therefore, expresses the relationship built between family members or people one considers family and its impact on the self. Henceforth also resonates with soldiers coming back from the war and trying to reconnect with family while dealing with their post-traumas.
“Somewhere along the way America became a giant mall with a country attached.”
The narrative focuses mostly on the commercialization of war despite the psychological traumas suffered by the combatants. Billy feels disillusioned by how war heroes are treated as some type of commodity back home. In that while in the Victory Tour where his squad is paraded and their supposed heroism is venerated in a commercialized setting. Moreover, a Hollywood producer intends to turn the Bravo Squad’s story into a film whilst securing finances from the Cowboys owner Norman Oglesby. The statement thus demonstrates this dynamic in America that Billy observes clearly during their Victory Tour.
“No matter their age or station in life, Billy can't help but regard his fellow Americans as children. They are bold and proud and certain in the way of clever children blessed with too much self-esteem, and no amount of lecturing will enlighten them as to the state of pure sin toward which war inclines.”
The quotation further accentuates the sentiment that most citizens blindly support wars that they are not aware of in terms of their objective, scope or impact. Billy observes how most citizens back home harbor unshaken patriotism regarding war without knowing the specifics of what they are supporting. In that the real costs of war are not felt by the average individual back home therefore their gratitude are rather empty gestures. The statement highlights the detachment that exists between the two worlds, which is rather complex or hard to reconcile.
