Essay Questions

Where does the title of the play come from?

Rooney and Cokes sing a song about men in the Airborne who would attempt to open their parachutes, but nothing would come out. The song is called Streamers and is about a soldier plummeting to earth without anything to break their fall.

What is the significance of Billy and Rooney's deaths?

The significance of their deaths is that they are killed stateside, just outside of Washington D.C. This is before Billy has ever seen the horrors of war, and after Rooney has already been through so many battles that he is lucky to be alive. It shows us that there are wars happening everyday in people's lives that we don't truly work to bring to resolution, while men are being shipped off to fight wars in foreign countries.

Why are Rooney and Cokes always seen drunk?

Rooney and Cokes are the Sergeants over Roger, Billy, Richie, and Carlyle. They are meant to be the commanding officers of these newly bred soldiers, but they are always seen drunk out of their minds. The symbolism in this is that these two men have been in the grips of death on the battlefields of war. They've seen horror and lost friends, brothers in arms. Rabe creates a portrait of the inner war these men are fighting, and by not speaking overtly about what they have seen we as the reader are able to discern the torment that these men live with daily, and their choice to booze has to do with pushing this torment away.