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Soldiers Home

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Where was his place now in this town-his hometown? Interestingly, the story, "Soldier's Home" does not describe the town the way it was before Krebs left for the war. We are inclined to reason however, that is had not changed during Krebs's absence from it. In the first paragraph, we see a picture of Krebs with his fraternity brothers in front of a Methodist college. All of them are wearing the same collar. We see no differences in their appearances. This could indicate that Krebs fit into his hometown before he went to war, but certainly not after. Part of Krebs' "home" before the war was his religious beliefs. We are told in the first sentence of the story that he went to a Methodist college.

During the war and after, his experience affected him to such a great deal that he could then not even pray. Many people lose their belief in God. There was much more to this loss for Krebs however. We are led to believe that his mother was deeply religious. How hard it would have been for Krebs to disregard in public his animosity towards God now. Anyone can pray out loud and not mean their words. Their faith cannot be seen to other people. Therefore, Krebs went along with this formality of praying with his mother for her sake, not his. His home before the war was filled with God filled days at the college. During the war he must have searched for God and not found him. That is why on his return to his hometown, he does not see the point of blindly believing any longer.

Krebs seemed to like the normality of everyday life. We learn of his daily routine of sleeping late, walking to the library and sitting on the front porch. He reads about the war on his front porch. This seemed to symbolize his wanting both worlds. He wishes that there were more maps in these books. Maps were important to him because they were concrete. They were stable. Maps could not be changed, unlike

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