The Best Years of Our Lives
All wars, regardless of the magnitude of its loss of life or the geographical breadth of its destruction, posses a number of defining characteristics. One of these traits actually takes place after the war. Almost all soldiers, upon returning home, engage in an emotional struggle nearly as great as the physical one they fought on the battlefield. The homecoming, while generally regarded as a joyful occasion, is not without it's down side. Soldiers are faced with the daunting task of having to re-integrate themselves into an unfamiliar lifestyle, rediscover themselves with their families, and attempt to put the atrocities of war behind them while simultaneously coping with more basic problems, such as finding new employment. These topics are often avoided and overlooked by the media, yet director William Wyler's Oscar winning film, The Best Years of Our Lives, confronted these issues through the return and process of re-acclimation of World War II veterans. The Best Years of Our Lives focuses on three veterans' return to their home town of Boone City after having passed several years in the Pacific Theater. The eldest, a man in his forties named Al Stephenson (Fredric March), was an infantry
In the last bar, they encounter Fred, who has thus far been unable to locate his wife, Marie. However, the only job he is able to find is a menial one at a local drug store. To escape the looming readjustment to life of which he has just become aware, he decides to take Milly and Peggy for a night on the town. They make a round of all of Boone City's nightclubs and bars, polishing off a bounty of drinks along the way. His wife, Milly, daughter, Peggy and son, Pat are all there to welcome him. While everyone else dances and carouses, Fred and Peggy start a conversation that will eventually lead to romance. The Best Years of Our Lives sharply captures the gap that this unforeseen reality created between veterans and citizens. It seems as though only upon physically entering his home is he able to grasp that his army days are truly over. Children have grown up, their fathers often a merely distant memory. Marriages, often undertaken impulsively before the man went overseas, foundered. Her first loves are money and the high life; Fred is acceptable as a husband only as long as he can provide those things. Not only were these newly self-reliant women occupying the positions, but also had no intention of abandon them. Every scar, every missing appendage was a constant reminder to non-veterans that there existed an elusive valley of suffering between themselves and the veterans; the veterans who had once been a best friend, a first love, or a father. Homer's story is interspersed throughout.
Common topics in this essay:
Al Homer,
Homer Fred,
,
Boone City,
Fred Homer's,
Nevertheless Homer,
Air Force,
Meanwhile Fred,
Boone City's,
Fred Homer,
children grown,
boone city's,
lost hands,
al homer,
veterans' return,
emotional struggle,
veterans non-veterans,
boone city,
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Acceptance Essays
