Change and Transformation

"I'm different than I was'" Pavlo brags to his half-brother, Mickey, during a visit home following his basic training. "I'm not the same anymore. I was an asshole. I'm not an asshole anymore." This somewhat desperate statement, however, proves to be much more an expression of desire than a statement of fact, as Pavlo demonstrates by lying to Mickey about being respected and liked among his fellow army trainees Pavlo does not succeed in developing meaningful human relationships, nor does he seem capable of learning from his mistakes. He is generally incapable of change, expressing self-awareness only symbolically in his conversations with Ardell after the grenade explodes.

Death

True to the theme of a protracted and bloody military conflict, death pervades every aspect of Rabe's play. Mrs. Hummel is obsessed with a story about a coworker learning of her son's death m Vietnam. Her comment "I...