Werewolf
The mascot of Meecham’s 367th Squadron is a feral werewolf with sharp fangs glistening from the salving dripping from them. This imagery perfect captures the ability of Col. Meecham to go from relatively normal human being into a hateful and fiercely maniacal creature capable of kicking his wife in the derriere and making his young daughter cry.
The Grudge Match
The one-on-one basketball game between Bull and his son is the central event of the novel in terms of establishing the relationship between father and son. Ben has consistently been the loser throughout his entire life and when he finally does win, it is too much for the Great Santini to bear so he tries to change the rules, but the family is having none of it. As a collective unit, they turn on him and the imagery of the game, the family’s reaction and the Colonel’s childish response in the face of his son’s mature reaction is the novel’s transformative moment.
Military Image
Military imagery pervades the novel and this is important because so little of the story actually takes place within a military setting. The Great Santini cannot separate the division in his life; he does not have two lives like a normal member of the military might. Lacking the ability to compartmentalize, he treats his family like a superior treats soldiers of lesser rank. But, of course, they are not soldiers and so eventually the tension this create breaks.
The Great Santini
The very nickname and his utilization of it is a vital form of imagery. Nobody endowed Meecham with this nickname; he chose it for himself. His use of the third person and the superlative attachment all serve to create a sense of detachment for Meecham. He is a warrior without a war to fight and thus becomes a figure of strange detachment and alienation. He does not really belong in the novel in which he appears; he should be the hero of a war story. His referencing himself as “the Great Santini” therefore can almost be said to be a kind of illusion; a magic trick to bring upon himself the heroic status he knows he could attain if only given a chance.
