the psychology of the military veteran plays a significant role in the novel, and the author carefully depicts the often difficult transition for soldiers returning to civilian life. in part one images and incidents from the war creep into the narrative with some regularity, suggesting that the soldiers have not yet put the war behind them. a sentence in the first chapter, recounting the soldier's return, vividly captures this theme: “and he thought i’m in lisbon and in mozambique, i can see the houses in the lower middle class neighborhood section and the trees in the jungle at the same time.”