the best years of our lives

The very first difficulty is unemployment, best exemplified by Fred¡¯s experience. The post-war era sees a readjustment of orientation towards the civilian life. The enormous government spending is cut and job opportunities shrink. Without appropriate skills, veterans can not compete with other civilians in the struggle for the shrinking pie of

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For veterans, physical injury is easy to recover, but psychological wounds are hard to cure. Nothing is more important to them than human, especially relationship with their loved ones. Homer, his love towards his fianc¨¦e deters him from accepting her love. Fred¡¯s experience in the place full of old planes suggests that nobody but veterans can save themselves. However, it is not only them who change their values. With an ironic title suggesting that their best years are in the war, the film nevertheless ends with an encouraging sign to those veterans: your best years are still to come. The feeling of being marginalized by the society exists throughout the whole movie, best represented in the beginning when three men unexpectedly gather at the Butcher¡¯s bar after they return home. A war movie in unique perspectives, it falls within the Hollywood formula with a happy ending. Alcoholism turns out to be a by-product of disillusion and that sense of ostracism, even becoming a barrier between them and their family members. Al, a professional banker before the war, now concerns more about how to grant veterans with opportunities to begin a new life, rather than consequent risks and benefits. In addition to unemployment, estrangement from their family members and misunderstanding of the civilian people leave them with an unequivocal sense of ostracism. They are more independent, strong and brave than men dare to imagine. Those veterans must on one hand confront the presiding value that money is the overriding and final determinant of all things and on the other hand, get used to the economic independence and increasingly self- determination of women in their lives. The cruel reality shatters their dreams.

Common topics in this essay:
William Wyler¡¯s, Lost Weekend, War II, Lives Lives, sense ostracism, effects war people, fred¡¯s experience, effects war, war people, begin life,

Approximate Word count = 608
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

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