Soldier's Home Themes
The three main themes in “Soldier’s Home” include the generation gap, the changing face of America, and the tension between progress and tradition.
- The generation gap: The story centers on the divide between Krebs, a World War I veteran, and the townspeople to whom he returns.
- The changing face of America: Krebs represents the transformation of America after World War I.
- The tension between progress and tradition: The story explores the conflict between those who want to move into the modern world and those who want to protect traditional values.
Themes and Meanings
Last Updated on May 31, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. Word Count: 182
One of the story’s central concerns might be described by a term that was once fashionable: “the generation gap.” In “Soldier’s Home,” the gap is more like a chasm that separates the ex-Marine from the townspeople. Krebs returns from the war, changed by his experiences, but the local citizenry are exactly what they were before the war—sure of themselves and their values. To stay in the town, to survive this time warp, Krebs must compromise his integrity; he must lie if he is to live among people who do not want to hear the truth.
Krebs represents the transformation brought about by World War I, and in this sense his metamorphosis reflects America’s changed face. Before the war, the conventional values of Krebs’s hometown had been, for the most part, America’s values. After World War I, however, those values were challenged, and the war’s returnees were among the chief challengers. In “Soldier’s Home,” the conflict is between challenger and challenged—the tension between Americans moving into the modern world and Americans protecting Victorian values.
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