Soldier Boys Summary and Analysis

"Since antiquity everyone who has experienced both war and love has known that here is a curious intercourse between them. The language of military attack - assault, impact, thrust, penetration - has always overlapped with that of sexual importunity. Seventeenth-century wit, so conscious of its classical inheritance, would be sadly enfeebled if deprived of its staple figure of 'dying' on one's 'enemy'" (Chap. 8, p. 270). There are many literary links between war and sexuality. Looting is usually associated with rape. Masturbation is usually associated with the excitement of fighting in the infantry and on the battlefield.

The soldier's world in the battlefield is basically a womanless world. The soldier is somewhat deprived of affection and sought affection as a way of countering the loneliness and terror of the battle front. Homosexuality can also be an issue and can function in...