62 pages • 2 hours read
Kristin HannahHome Front
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2012A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
PTSD’s Impact on Soldiers and Their Families
The novel explores the causes and effects of PTSD through the characters of Jolene and Keith. Hannah uses Jolene’s experiences in Iraq to illustrate why veterans so often return home suffering from PTSD. Because the Iraq War lacks a traditional front line, there is no place of (relative) safety to retreat to. As a result, soldiers like Jolene and Keith live in constant fear: the “woman who smiles and waves can blow up the soldier who tries to help her across the street” (142). Compounding that baseline of danger, Jolene hears about and witnesses numerous helicopter accidents, which force her to face death much more viscerally than she ever has before. She and Tami realize they could die at any time, which shifts their outlook on life. Jolene exhibits this shift by having recurring nightmares about bombs, crashes, and dead bodies. After her helicopter crashes, she experiences these dreams even more often, to the point that she fears falling asleep. The stress of existing in constant danger and the trauma of witnessing violence and death combine to produce the complex set of symptoms known as PTSD.
Keith is the first character in the novel to exhibit PTSD. His story represents an extreme example of what can happen if symptoms of PTSD go untreated, but one with precedents in real life. Keith’s traumatic dissociation is so severe that he has no recollection of killing his wife following a triggering experience in downtown Seattle. When Michael takes his case, he learns that Keith, once a kind and well-respected young man, became angry and a heavy drinker after returning from his second tour in Iraq. He further learns that neither Keith nor his family understood what was happening to him and that when he sought help through the veteran’s hospital, he received only cursory and ineffective treatment. Through Keith, Hannah shows how serious PTSD can be and how urgent the need is for more effective diagnoses and treatments.
Through Jolene’s post-deployment experiences, the novel shows how PTSD affects not only individuals but also families, as well as how understanding and support for victims can bring about effective recovery. Because of her trauma, Jolene cannot hide her anger and grief, causing Betsy and Lulu to be afraid of her and view her as a completely different person. Like Keith and many other veterans, Jolene suffers from nightmares about her deployment, as well as traumatic flashbacks triggered by things like bright lights and loud noises. Lacking any other source of relief, she turns to alcohol and prescription medications to numb her suffering, which only worsens her depression and alienation from her family. Unlike Keith, however, Jolene has a husband who can recognize her behaviors as symptoms of PTSD. Thanks to his work with Keith, Michael has the knowledge and resources to contextualize her suffering and support her and, eventually, treatment. Michael’s support for and careful cultivation of communication with Jolene shows that though PTSD can be challenging for families to deal with, tragic outcomes like Keith’s are not inevitable. Through education, empathy, and access to professional treatment, veterans like Jolene can learn to manage their symptoms and live happy lives.
Collectively, Keith and Jolene stand as examples of what PTSD can do to the mental state of soldiers, veterans, and their families. Keith symbolizes the extreme consequences that can result from PTSD left untreated, while Jolene demonstrates the more specific details of what Iraq War veterans experience when they return home from active duty. Hannah uses these two characters and their families to teach the audience the detrimental effects of PTSD and encourage them to offer help and compassion to veterans who might be suffering from it.
Deployment’s Effect on Family and Relationships
The novel demonstrates the effect deployment has on families and relationships through the Zarkades and Flynn families. Within the Zarkades family, anger becomes the dominant emotion for both Michael and Betsy. They often react to difficult situations angrily, hurting their relationship with their other family members. Betsy and Michael are already struggling with internal conflict between school and work, respectively, so Jolene’s deployment only deepens their resentment and anger. When Jolene returns from the war, she likewise uses anger as the easiest means of coping with her grief, loss, and trauma. Thankfully, all three characters overcome their anger and find healthier ways of dealing with their conflict. Michael focuses less on himself and more on his family, Betsy realizes that her unkind friends are not worth her time, and Jolene regains her optimistic outlook on life despite her amputation and losing Tami.
The Zarkades family also experiences much fear in conjunction with Jolene’s deployment. Jolene is afraid to leave Michael with their marriage in such conflict, and she fears how her daughters will survive without her. Michael, Betsy, and Lulu constantly fear for Jolene’s safety, especially when they learn that she lies about not being near the fighting. Michael develops an “irrational fear that he’d lose one of the kids. He had nightmares where he said to Jo, I don’t know, I only looked away for a second” (160). These nightmares show how Michael handles the stress and fear that accompany deployment and how spouses can suffer alongside their soldiers. Upon her return, Jolene fears the changes she sees in herself because of her PTSD. She can no longer control her emotions and take care of her family, and she struggles to understand how she can return to the woman she once was. The Zarkadeses overcome their fear by acknowledging their difficult circumstances and learning they must rely on each other. Thus, each character overcomes their fears and leans more heavily on the rest of the family. By doing so, Michael, Betsy, and Jolene lose their fear and strengthen their relationships.
The Flynns, by contrast, deal with Tami’s deployment in a healthier manner, though they also are deeply impacted by Tami’s absence. As Tami says, “According to Carl, [Seth] isn’t sleeping and he unplugged his Xbox and won’t play video games anymore—he doesn’t want to see cartoon people getting blown up” (121). Seth’s changed behavior shows that he is withdrawing as a coping mechanism instead of becoming angry as Michael and Betsy do. The two families become linked when Michael realizes he has something in common with Carl and Seth. Previously, Michael refused to see his family as a military family and would only acknowledge Carl and Seth superficially. When Jolene and Tami go to war, Michael finally realizes he shares a common bond with Carl. They do not become strong friends, but Michael seeks comfort and care for Carl and Seth. This connection symbolizes Michael’s significant shift in character and his willingness to care for a family that is suffering in the same way.
Through both families, Hannah demonstrates the various emotions and struggles families face when a family member deploys into an active warzone. The Zarkadeses display strong emotions that outwardly express their inward turmoil. The Flynns, on the other hand, withdraw their feelings, becoming less involved in external activities that might help them cope while Tami is away. Both families show that it is possible to overcome the difficulties posed by a family member’s deployment. However, Hannah also shows that deployment strongly impacts families and relationships, regardless of how that impact is handled and manifested.
The Conflict Between Military Duty and Motherhood
The novel depicts the conflict many women experience between military careers and motherhood through Jolene and Tami’s characters. Jolene and Tami “spend ten years in the army together and then moved over to the Guard when marriage—and motherhood—made active duty difficult” (9). While the women loved their military careers, they sacrifice their active service to stay home and raise a family. This sacrifice comes with conflict, as Jolene experiences, due to the social and familial expectations placed on mothers. When Jolene tells Michael of her deployment, Michael asks, “What kind of mother would leave her children?” (70). His comment points toward the sexist demands placed on women like Jolene that in order to be a good mother, she must give up all her other commitments, including her duty to her country. Jolene is devoted to Lulu and Betsy, but she has a strong sense of duty to the military as well. Jolene’s conflict continues as she goes to Iraq and tries to keep her focus on survival. She writes to her daughters often, seeking to remain a central part of their lives. Jolene also uses a journal to help her balance her personal and professional life, which constantly conflicts during her time in Iraq, as the demands of combat force her to set aside thoughts of her family. Through Jolene, Hannah dramatizes the ways that the gendered expectations of mothers and soldiers make it difficult for women like Jolene to reconcile their family and professional lives.
Jolene’s return home demonstrates that the conflict between a military career and motherhood persists after deployment and active duty have ended. Beset by PTSD symptoms, Jolene struggles to find the inspiration to get better and have hope for her future. Michael recognizes this and uses their daughters as inspiration. This tool proves effective, though Jolene continues to go through the ups and downs of recovery. In the end, Jolene uses her desire to return to motherhood to help her overcome her fears, grief, and trauma. It takes the power of motherhood for Jolene to realize that she can be the woman she was before deployment. Once she realizes this, she also learns that she might not lose the career that made her who she is, as there is a chance that she will be able to pilot smaller aircraft with her prosthetic. This news symbolizes the final integration of Jolene’s identities as mother and military woman. With the full recognition and support of both her family and her colleagues, Jolene can fulfill the two roles that make up the most important aspects of her identity.
While Jolene represents the conflict that can occur between a military career and motherhood, Tami symbolizes the support women offer each other in work and motherhood. While Hannah describes Tami’s family and their struggles in less detail, she does demonstrate that Tami lives in similar circumstances regarding deployment. For example, Tami tells Jolene about Seth’s reaction to her deployment. She says, “Seth tried to act cool when I told him. […] He asked what would happen if I didn’t come back. He’s not even thirteen. He’s not supposed to have to ask his mom a question like that” (81). Tami experiences the same conflict Jolene does about being in the military and a devoted mother. From this shared experience, Tami helps keep Jolene grounded and focused on surviving the war. While Jolene can get caught up in the minutiae of her family and its conflict, Tami reminds her that “[they] need to get [their] heads in the game […] [They’re] soldiers first now” (121). Further, Tami encourages Jolene to do what she can to repair her marriage. Tami knows that Michael has been selfish and will not communicate with Jolene in Iraq, yet she reminds Jolene that they could die at any moment and that Jolene should do what she can to repair her marriage before it’s too late. Thus, Tami represents how women can support other women facing the same struggles between career and family, deepening this theme and how women balance career and family when conflict arises.
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