Marxist criticism can be applied to this book if you read it through that lens. First, how the soldier ended up on the battlefield in terms of force majeure entering the war and how the individual found himself there. John Crawford, who is lower class, joins the National Guard as a way to try to raise his social status by giving himself a college education, a monetary bonus, and a desire to serve his country. It was that country that John joined to serve that used the invasion of Afghanistan to bring justice to those responsible for the September 11 terrorist attacks as a means of disguising an invasion of Iraq for economic purposes. There is also the wealth that the immersion of the American military in war brought to those in positions of power or with interests in defense companies. It is by going to war and trying to improve his status that John ultimately only contributes to widening the gap between those rich and those of the working class. This story is not about the war hero typically romanticized in novels, but about a real person struggling to find the right in his moral compass when placed in a situation where good and evil can be very difficult to separate. Ultimately, when the war is over, John is left with questions regarding his conscience about what he has done