Soldier's home
Life is full twists and turns; there are changes everywhere. Sometimes they are within us, other times they are around us. For Krebs, in a "Soldier's Home," change is an internal warfare, where no one can save him but himself. He has lost his innocence, has seen and been part of horrifying battles, and now has to leave these experiences so that he can adjust and be part of the community. This transition is very difficult for him because he realizes he has changed, though everything around him remains the same. He is disgusted with what he has become and the "lies" he has told. He is an outsider; he does not belong, and not even his mother realizes he is transformed. A picture prior to the war "shows him among his fraternity brothers, all of them wearing exactly the same height and style collar." He would have enjoyed the challenge of conquering a girl back then, but now girls have lost their appeal. He thinks they are "too complicated." He wants sexual gratification without having to work hard for it. He does not want more complications in his life, and he does not want commitment nor lies. He is a different kind of man now; a recent picture "shows him on the Rhine with two German girls and another corporal. Krebs an
Because she does not listen, she will never understand his anguish, his pain, and his change. When she asks him if he loves her, he truthfully replies he does not. He adds, "I don't love anybody." He is living in anguish; he does not love himself and is therefore incapable of loving anybody else. The gap between them widens; they are strangers. She cries, and he lies to her and kneels down to pray only to please her. He prays and tells her he loves her because he does not want to hurt her and he is unable to take a stand. He realizes he has to get away; he decides to "go to Kansas City and get a job" so she can "feel all right about it." He is emotionally numbed during and after the incident; "none of it had touched him...He had felt sorry for his mother and she had made him lie." d the corporal look too big for their uniforms." Normally, a man looks rather handsome in his uniform, but Krebs' uniform does not really fit well; it does not suit him at all. He is out of place, for he does not truly belong anywhere. When he returned from war, the hero-frenzy had died down. He missed the hero's welcome; he "had come back much too late." In order for him to be heard, he feels he has to lie about his military experience. His "exaggerations" sicken him, and he hates himself. They create in him a feeling of "distaste for everything that had happened to him in the war." He can lie to the world, but not to himself, and the thought makes hi
Some common words found in the essay are:
Rhine German, Soldier's Home, I'm Kingdom, Kansas City, WWI God, , unable relate,
Approximate Word count = 981
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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