Home Front

“I’ve got your six literally meant that a helicopter was behind you, flying in the six o’clock position. What it really meant was I’m here for you. I’ve got your back. That was what Jolene had found in the army, and in the Guard, and in Tami. I’ve got your six.”

This passage demonstrates Jolene’s strong connection to her military service and career and the strong roots that make up her friendship with Tami. It also foreshadows that she will have to rely heavily upon her crew when she goes to Iraq, especially after her serious injury in an attack.

“Nothing I do or say is right. Honestly, she breaks a little piece of my heart every day. She swears she’ll skip school if I go to career day. Apparently a mother in the military is only slightly less humiliating than one in prison.”

Jolene demonstrates her struggle to balance her work as a soldier and a mother. She does not want to embarrass or upset her daughter, yet Betsy’s disregard for her work in the military hurts her deeply.

“Michael stood at his office window, staring out. On this cold, gray day, Seattle simmered beneath a heavy lid of clouds. Rain obscured the view, softened the hard steel edges of the high-rise buildings. Far below, messengers on bicycles darted in and out of traffic like hummingbirds.”

This passage demonstrates Hannah’s use of imagery and simile to describe the setting in the novel. Her use of imagery allows her audience to connect with the text and create a more vivid mental image of what the characters are doing, feeling, and seeing.

“Honor. Duty. Loyalty. These were more than words to Jolene; they were part of her. She’d always been two women—a mother and solider—and this deployment ripped her in half, left a bloody, gaping tear between the two sides of her.”

Jolene’s reflections on honor, duty, and loyalty directly reflect the novel’s theme of The Conflict Between Military Duty and Motherhood. Her world consists of two roles, yet those roles conflict with each other. Michael does not support Jolene’s military career and feels she should ignore her duty and refuse deployment because she is a mother. Jolene feels otherwise, knowing that her duty as a soldier is unavoidable and a necessary part of who she is. This conflict will continue to escalate over the remainder of the novel.

“‘Already you are letting her down. Your father was like this, God rest his soul. He was selfish. This is a time for you to see beyond yourself.’ She touched his cheek, resting her knuckles against his skin as she’d done so often in his youth. ‘You be proud of her, Michael.’”

Mila plays a significant role in the novel by helping Michael with his daughters during Jolene’s deployment and teaching Michael to be a better husband and father. Michael has a lot in common with his father, and Mila uses this connection to help her son do and be better. She also sees Jolene’s strength and helps Michael see his wife’s courage and better understand her love for the military.

“‘What are they going to do without us?’ Jolene said quietly. ‘What are we going to do without them?’ was Tami’s reply.”

These simple statements demonstrate the duality of Jolene’s and Tami’s life as soldiers and mothers. Jolene references their crucial role in keeping their families and households running. Tami’s statement implies that they will need their families’ support to pull them through the war, but that support can only come from the other side of the world.

“He hadn’t known shit. The cost of war was here, in this room. It was families being torn apart and babies born without their parent at home and children forgetting their mother’s face. It was soldiers—some of them his age and others young enough to be his sons—who would come home wounded…or not come home at all.”

Hannah uses Jolene’s deployment ceremony to initiate Michael’s change in attitude toward the Iraq War and his wife’s deployment. This poignant event shows Michael that deployment has a severe impact on the soldiers and their families, and he realizes that his selfish behavior has distracted him from the fact that he might lose her.

“‘We need to get our heads in the game, Jo,’ Tami said. ‘We’re soldiers first now. That’s the way it has to be or…’ ‘We’ll die,’ Jolene said softly. She knew Tami was right; she’d thought the same thing several times. No doubt it was what occupied Jamie’s thoughts now, too. The point of war games was, ultimately, war. Jolene needed to put her feelings for her family in a compartment and hide it away.”

Just as Michael’s attitude and perspective change, so does Jolene’s. While she trains in Texas before going to Iraq, Jolene tries to engage in the training that could save her life. However, she is still distracted by her family and how they will get along without her. She realizes that she must prioritize her work as a soldier if she is going to survive the war. For the first time, something other than her family will be her main focus.

“‘How come we don’t have a flag up, Daddy?’ Lulu said. ‘Mommy’s gone.’ Michael stopped. How was it possible that he’d never considered this before? All the things he’d learned from Cornflower and Keller slipped into his mind again. They were a military family. He heard that all the time; people said it to him and he shrugged it off, thinking, no, not really; my wife is just in the Guard. Because HE wasn’t in the military, it hadn’t felt real to him, and God knew he’d never liked her commitment or supported it. Still, they were a military family, and his wife was at war. And a four-year-old had seen the truth of that before he had.”

Lulu’s desire to put up a flag to honor her mother’s deployment symbolizes the moment Michael finally realizes and admits that he is in a military family. While this passage signifies Michael’s distaste for his wife’s military career, it also describes his acceptance of Jolene’s duty to her country. Thus, Michael and Lulu flying an American flag in honor of Jolene symbolizes his shift in opinion and perspective.

“I know he doesn’t love me anymore—if words hadn’t been enough to prove it, the lack of letters since I went away certainly make his position clear—but do I still love him? The truth is, at the end, I’d be reaching for him. I know I would. Reaching out for a man who no longer wants to be there. Just like my mother.”

This passage demonstrates dramatic irony because readers know that Michael’s feelings about his wife and her deployment are changing, but Jolene does not. She thinks his lack of communication stems from his lack of love for her, but he is undergoing a change of heart that prevents him from communicating his feelings to her. This passage also links the Prologue and the body of the novel by showing how Jolene’s experience with Michael is similar to her mother’s relationship with Jolene’s father.

“Jolene heard the ping! of machine gun fire hitting a helicopter in her sleep and often woke up screaming. Last week, a bullet had gone through the window beside her head, shattering it, and bounced off her helmet. She’d felt the slightest thwack to her head and kept flying. Only later did she begin to have nightmares about it, to imagine her head exploding, her body coming back to her children in a black bag that was twelve inches too short.”

Hannah’s vivid imagery helps describe the dangerous situations Jolene frequently finds herself in and the mental and emotional effect those situations have on her. The more missions Jolene flies, the more she realizes her mortality. The impact of these experiences also demonstrates that she is developing PTSD.

“As he talked to his youngest daughter about kindergarten and teachers and cubbies and recess, it was as if he were another man from another life. For years, he’d strived to make a difference in the world, and he’d worked like a dog to make that happen, and yet here he was, a man sitting on a dock with his children, and never had he felt more certain that his words matter.”

With Jolene’s absence, Michael must step up as a parent and be present for his daughters. While he initially resists and resents this responsibility, his time with Betsy and Lulu is changing his priorities and how he views his family. Ironically, Michael realizes that his greatest work and influence is not at his law firm but in his own home.

“I’m sorry. That’s what I know now. For so many things. I guess war doesn’t only change the warriors. Those of us on the home front go through our own stuff. I miss you.”

This passage comes from Michael’s first email to Jolene after her deployment. His apology demonstrates that he’s changing and seeing his mistakes. This passage also mentions the novel’s title and symbolizes the novel’s focus on home, family, and relationships. Ironically, Jolene does not see this email before her helicopter crash.

“‘You wanted a divorce.’ ‘Jo, I’ve been trying to tell you since I got here: I love you. I was an idiot. Forgive me.’ It was what she’d waited months to hear, dreamed of almost every night in the desert, ached for, and now…she didn’t care. His words were meaningless. She pushed her morphine pump and prayed for the drug to work quickly. ‘Give us a chance, Jo. You need me now.’ ‘I’ve never needed anyone.’ She sighed. ‘And thank God for that.’”

Despite Michael’s development during Jolene’s absence, he quickly realizes that the rift between them will not heal quickly. Thus, Hannah heightens the conflict within the marriage as Jolene no longer maintains her positive perspective. She also references Jolene’s difficult childhood and how she learned not to rely on others for happiness.

“A major appeared beside her, in full uniform, and pinned a metal to her tee shirt. He talked down at her, said words she barely heard. Medals shouldn’t be given to a woman who’d gotten her aircraft shot down and a young man killed.”

This passage demonstrates Jolene’s guilt and shame at not protecting Smitty and the rest of her crew. Because she is the pilot, she feels the accident, Smitty’s death, and Tami’s injuries are her fault. This guilt will continue to haunt Jolene and limit her ability to recover and heal from her experience in Iraq.

“‘Here, Mommy,’ she said solemnly, coming up to the bed. ‘You can have my blankee.’ Jolene’s heart seemed to break open at that. For a second, she felt it, all the love that used to fill her up. She took the sad, work yellow blanket, remembering how pretty it had once looked in Lulu’s white spindle crib. And she wanted it back, all of it, her life, her ability to love, her sense of motherhood. ‘Thank you, Lucy. I’ll be careful with it.’”

This exchange between Jolene and her daughter demonstrates how desperately Jolene wants to return to her old life. It also shows motherhood’s powerful role in Jolene’s life before and after her accident. Lulu’s innocence contrasts with the horror of war, and Lulu giving Jolene her blanket symbolizes her desire to help her mother heal.

“It was a surprise to her, that answer. Jolene had never shown fear or anxiety, not when her parents died, not when she gave birth, not even when she went off to war. All of that she’d handled with the stoicism and courage that was as much a part of her as the green of her eyes.”

Although Jolene continues to struggle with her recovery and returning home, she shows moments of honesty that will eventually help heal her relationship with Michael. Jolene sees these admissions as a weakness because she has always had to be strong and positive. Now, however, she sees she cannot overcome her struggles alone and occasionally opens up about her fears.

“‘The girls catch the bus these days. They know the times,’ he said. Another change. It was just as well. Jolene could hardly drive carpool. ‘Okay. I have voir dire today, so I’ll be home no later than six.’ ‘You never get home by six.’ ‘People change, Jo,’ he said, giving her a pointed look.”

Despite Michael’s efforts to prove his sorrow and regret, Jolene ignores how much he has changed. Over time, Jolene begins to notice how Michael has become a much more supportive and involved husband and father. While most of the changes Jolene sees in her home and family overwhelm and depress her, the changes she sees in Michael begin to give her hope.

“They knew their mom hadn’t come home from the war. Not really. The woman who’d come home was a stranger to all of them, herself most of all. I want my daddy. When had Lulu ever wanted comfort from Michael? It was yet another change. While Jolene had been gone, the heart of her family had shifted. She’d become marginalized, unimportant. Michael was the partner who comforted and cared for them now. The parent they trusted.”

When Jolene left for Iraq, she was afraid that Michael would not step up and take care of their daughters as well as she would. Now that Jolene sees that Michael has become a caring and happy father, she ironically resents his new position in the family. This resentment becomes part of her struggle as she tries to regain her position as a mother instead of a soldier.

“Michael scared her, too, perhaps most of all. He kept saying the right things, words she’d longed to hear, but he didn’t really love her. How could he? He had stopped loving her when she was at her best; how could he possibly love her now, at her worst.”

Jolene’s thoughts demonstrate the internal conflict she experiences regarding Michael’s behavior toward her after she returns home. She sees that he is acting differently but does not trust that he’s truly changed until later in the novel. Jolene is afraid to have her heart broken again, so she resists the changes she sees and believes he could never love her after her amputation. This resistance prolongs Jolene’s suffering and the reconciliation between her and Michael.

“‘Keith is a Marine. I didn’t used to know what that meant, but I should have, because my wife is a soldier. I sent her off to war without a clue as to what that meant.’ Michael turned, looked at her. ‘I’m proud of her service.’ Jolene caught her breath. He was talking to her. That was why he’d wanted her here today. So that she would listen. ‘Heroes,’ Michael said softly. The world seemed to fall away until it was only them, looking at each other across a crowded courtroom. ‘They are heroes, our soldiers, the men and women who go into harm’s way to protect us, our way of life. It doesn’t matter what you think of the war, you have to be grateful to the warriors, of whom we ask so much. To whom we sometimes give too little.’”

This passage demonstrates the important role Keith Keller’s case and trial plays in helping Michael change his mind about his wife’s military career, as well as helping Jolene overcome her grief and PTSD. It also creates a pivotal moment between Jolene and Michael because he can publicly express his changed attitude about the war and his wife’s service. Saying this at the trial has a much more powerful impact on Jolene and allows her to stop resisting her husband’s changes and how he now views her as a hero.

“‘Enough,’ he said again, yelling it. ‘I was an asshole before you left. I admit it. I was an asshole and I broke your heart and I might have ruined us. Maybe I did ruin us. But I’ve changed, Jo. I’ve changed and you don’t seem to care. I’m sick of throwing myself against the concrete wall of your defenses. You’re giving me nothing. You’re giving your children nothing. Nothing. And you know what that’s like, don’t you, Jo, getting nothing from your parents. If we’re broken now and this family is ruined, it’s on you. On you. I can’t try any harder.’”

Although Jolene begins to recover after her experience in the courtroom, Tami’s death throws her over the edge. Michael finally reaches a breaking point and shows that, ironically, Jolene is now the selfish one harming their relationship and family. Michael’s words do not appear to affect Jolene immediately, but in time, she comes to see that Michael is right and needs to return to the woman she was before the war. As she does, Jolene regains her joy in motherhood, her passion for Michael, and her optimistic outlook on life.

“He got up and picked her up as if she weighed nothing and set her on the toilet, then he reached over and unspooled a wad of toilet paper, handing it to her like a perfect white rose. She’d peed in front of him a thousand times in their marriage, but now the act felt painfully intimate. She thought about asking him to leave and changed her mind. Whatever was happening now between them, she didn’t want to ruin it.”

This scene between Jolene and Michael represents the shift that finally occurs in Jolene’s healing process. Hannah portrays Jolene’s vulnerability vividly and deepens it through the use of simile with the toilet paper. This moment also marks when Jolene finally stops ignoring Michael’s changed behavior and falls in love with him again. With Michael’s love and support, Jolene heals and overcomes her trauma.