Religion
"A Prayer in the Furnace" follows a Catholic chaplain during a particularly brutal tour in Fallujah. In order to cope with the violence and stress, he turns towards his theology. He employs images of Jesus Christ's suffering in an effort to relate to the pain's experienced by the soldiers. He also invokes biblical passages in an attempt to make sense of the stressful situation. In this sense, the tension between religion and war is interrogated and analyzed.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
A common trait running throughout the stories of Redeployment is the presence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. After experiencing horrifying situations during their deployment, soldiers often return home with psychological damage. As featured in the collection, this can manifest itself in domestic abuse and substance abuse. For example, when one soldier returns home to discover that his wife has left him, he copes by drinking himself into a stupor for several days in a row. These scenes are troubling and upsetting but very adeptly display the ways in which combat situations leave a lasting impact on veterans.
Consumer Culture
In the first story of the novel, "Redeployment," a soldier returns home from Iraq and attempts to adjust back to civilian life. At one point in the story, he goes to the mall to shop with his wife. President George W. Bush advised that Americans can help fight the terrorist by shopping, and the veteran follows this advice. In the changing room of an American Eagle, he experiences symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress disorder. He is trapped in the changing room and does not feel comfortable enough to leave. The veteran's adverse reaction to the mall, a setting which is comfortable for so many civilians, demonstrates the difficulty soldiers have in adjusting back to life after combat.
Bodies
The story "Bodies" revolves around a soldier stationed with the Body Processing department. It is his job to deal with the bodies of dead soldiers after they have died in combat. He tells particularly gruesome stories about mangled, burnt and incomplete bodies. The soldier seems to remember each body he dealt with, and unflinchingly relates the experience. In this way, the glamorization of war is replaced with the harrowing reality of death and destruction.
Dogs
In the first story of the collection, "Redeployment," the protagonist reveals that he and his fellow soldiers killed dogs for sport in Iraq. It became something of a sport to kill as many stray animals as possible. Brutal scenes of killing animals are described in detail. When the soldier returns home, he discovers that his own dog has developed tumors and must be put down. Instead of employing a vet, however, the soldier shoots the dog himself, displaying the ways in which his combat experience dramatically altered his everyday conduct.
Baseball
In "Money as a Weapons System" a wealthy philanthropist wishes to donate money to an Iraqi community. Instead of using the money to buy food or build infrastructure, the man buys baseball equipment in the hopes of introducing the sport to Iraq. He demands that a photo of children playing baseball be sent back to him. The personnel tasked with distributing the equipment comment on the foolishness of the venture. As they suggest, the American attitude in regards to assistance and charity is often intertwined with an imperial imposition of American culture, instead of what is actually required by people in need.
