Sticks and Bones | Themes

Communication
The inability of David, Harriet, Ozzie, and Rick to communicate with each other is one of the play's central themes. The most obvious communication problem is between David and the rest of the family. When David returns from Vietnam, the family tries to communicate with him the same way they did before he left. This does not work because David has been profoundly changed and had experiences that they find distasteful (i.e., involvement with the Asian Girl). At the same time, David does not want to communicate with them on their terms and can only express his...

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