A bath (symbol)
A bath is a symbol of calm, maybe uneventful, but comfortable living; it is a symbol of civilization. Heading out to “Basra-Baghdad highway,” the four soldiers discuss what they are “looking forward to” when they get back home. Stewart’s answer is both the most surprising and the most boring. He looks forward to “a bath.” The sergeant doesn’t need all the fun that he could easily find in the city, he doesn’t want to entertain girls in bars, telling them stories about his deeds. Stewart just wants to hang up his “boots” and forget about Iraq once and forever. He might lead uneventful life, but it is just what he wants - just a bath and a warm bed to sleep in.
An enemy (allegory)
An enemy is an allegory of everything that is foreign to you. You “don’t feel anything for him.” You “hate” everything about him, especially “his ugly face,” “his dirty clothes.” Your clothes might be “dirty too,” but you – unlike the enemy – “at least” know “what it is to be clean.” You don’t live like an animal. You came here “to liberate them from living like this,” but instead of liberating them you learn to hate them. It is not like you really hate him, you are just afraid to admit that you might “feel something,” might notice “how miserable his life, all their lives, are.” An enemy for the main characters in the novel is everyone in Iraq, and this image of an enemy becomes allegorical and is presented through hatred.
Getting a story (allegory)
Ursula joins the unit like an embedded correspondent. Her task is to gather enough information, so that the BBC could create the documentary on the unit. She gets “all the background,” interviews every member of the unit, but – unfortunately- she doesn’t have “a story.” She is almost ready to leave when something happens. An Iraqi is killed by mistake. The Sergeant makes a decision to try and make a least some things right. They have to take “blood money” and bring them to a sheikh who kidnapped the dead Iraqi’s wife and son. In the process of doing so, Ursula gets her story and the four British soldiers lose their lives.
