Father Comes Home From the Wars

When Hero is made to fight in the Confederate Army alongside the Colonel, he is given a Confederate uniform. After he encounters Smith in Part 2, he begins to wear a Union jacket under his Confederate jacket. These two uniforms symbolize the dual allegiance Hero is forced to have; this symbol thus influences the theme of The Struggle for Freedom in an Unjust System, as Hero is forced to make this impossible choice for his freedom.

In Part 1, Hero is conflicted by the Colonel’s request that he fight on the Confederate side, which Hero thinks is the “wrong side” of the Civil War (21). Old Man notes that the “choice” given to Hero by the Colonel is a “little crumb of choice” (19), by which he means that Hero really has no choice at all. This “crumb” of choice is paralleled to the Confederate uniform Hero is given, which is “not a whole uniform / More like a bunch of scraps” (23). Just like Hero doesn’t have a real choice to fight alongside the Colonel, he doesn’t have a real uniform. Yet, the scraps of the Confederate uniform nonetheless symbolize the “side” Hero fights on in the Civil War.