The war had definitely taken its toll on people who survived World War I. They come home from the war (if they come home at all) as different people. These people have seen things that most men will never see. Things that would change someone's lives for the worst, things such as death and destruction. Not only were the soldiers affected psychologically but also physically. As shown in "Soldier's Home", the character Krebs will never again be the same person he was before World War I. It seems as if his will to live has diminished. Krebs suffered harmful psychological effects, but what about the others that survived the war. Some weren't even able to go back home after the war ended.
These devastating injuries due to the war changed these Americans soldier's lives forever. The boy with the injured leg loved playing football. Now he has to have his leg hooked up to a machine. The boy who lost his nose will never be looked at as a normal person ever again. The major as mentioned before was the greatest fencer in Italy. Now the major's hand resembled a baby's. He, like the other boy used a machine to recuperate. The major asks the boy with the bad leg what his plans were after the war is over. The boy tells him he would go back to the states and get married. This infuriates the major greatly. He tells the boy he can't marry or he would lose everything (Hemingway 209). What the boy doesn't know is that the major's wife had died while he was at war. Because of the war he was not able to be with his wife who was only sick for a few days and was not expected to die. These men aren't even able to go back home because of their injuries. (Hemingway 210)
When Hemingway returned home from Italy in January of 1919 he found Oak Park dull compared to the adventures of war, the beauty of foreign lands, and the romance of an older woman. He was only nineteen but the war had matured him beyond his years. He was now living with his parents who didn't really appreciate what he had been through
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