Theme Of Isolation In Soldier's Home

The two short stories, “Solider’s Home” by Ernest Hemingway and “Barbie and Ken Experience the War” by Diana Jell both cover the topic of war. The stories main themes are specifically isolation and societal views on war. These themes both have their own ways of contributing to the overall messages to each story. The theme of alienation both are prevalent in each story, however in different ways. Both stories show isolation from society but from different standpoints as well as convey society’s reactions to war.

In “Soldier’s Home,” the feeling of alienation is especially seen in the main character, Harold Krebs. He comes home much later from war than the rest of the soldiers in his town, so he missed the grand celebratory “welcome home”.

This story begins with two figures that highly embody the superficial and shallow side of some Americans during the Vietnam War- Barbie and Ken. These two characters in this story meet at a war hotel, The Continental Palace at a café. Ken is a highly ranked officer while Barbie is said to work for the American Embassy, however it seemed that most of what she had done while in Vietnam is shop. The first thing Ken utters is his distaste for the Vietnamese beer he ordered and continues to comment about how he’d prefer “good ole American brew any day”. This shows how shallow and isolated these characters are while there is a war going on just north of them. These characters are isolated from the people who actually are suffering and are really involved in the war in the north. Their job titles just give them esteem but does not give them the ability to connect with the real war- only the fake aspect of the war. This is completely different than the isolation that Krebs was experiencing in “Soldier’s Home”, where Barbie and Ken are more similar to the characters back at Kreb’s hometown. They have not experienced the war firsthand and are unable to sympathize or relate to anyone who suffered from the

“Soldier’s Home” shows the main character, who served as a marine in WWI who comes home feeling disconnected and alienated from society who has moved on from the excitement of the war and who have continued on with life as normal. Society’s reaction to the war in “Soldier’s Home” have gotten past the harsh stories and emotional welcomes of returning soldiers so they are unable to really understand what Krebs has gone through. In contrast, “Barbie and Ken Experience the War” shows a different side to isolation, where the two main characters, Barbie and Ken, are “isolated” from the rest of those who are really affected by the Vietnam War. They do not understand and have not truly “experienced” the real trauma of war, so the title is ironic in that sense. Both stories convey the message of war and the consequences that those who go through war deal with, just from different