Political agenda
This novel is openly political, featuring a soldier from the Iraq war whose squad, "Bravo Squad," is publicly honored across the nation on a Victory tour commissioned by the Bush administration. His participation in the war is emotionally trying and traumatizing and he believes that the political agenda around his publicity is dubious. Then, when he is called back to war, he has to reckon within himself whether he can afford to support the war effort having seen the way public opinion is shaped by government. He must reconcile his desire to be honorable with his growing fear that the war is propagandized.
Warfare and horror
The truth of warfare is not really apparent on the Victory tour. This novel's tone is very similar to the denouement of Cast Away where Tom Hanks's character returns to his community after a horrifying isolation on an island. In this novel, that "island" is the emotional confusion and pain caused by PTSD from combat and from the complicated emotions which come from having taken human lives. In light of his invisible psychic suffering, the "Victory" tour begins to wear Billy thin. He cannot pretend that his experience of war did not change his political opinion.
Duty to self and nation
Therefore, Billy Lynn is pulled between two poles of interest. On the one hand, he has a duty to his nation which defined his decision to join the military, to work hard to attain excellent combat and strategy skills, and to lead his squad into combat. His duty earns him the Silver Star. But this duty is complicated by a duty to his own self to have a life and to survive in a psychologically healthy way. When he is asked to return to war, the dilemma comes to a fever pitch. His relationship to self is represented by his burgeoning relationship with a cheerleader which symbolizes the other duty, his duty to his self to live a good life. He wants to start a family; he is done killing, but must return nevertheless.
