ABSTRACT
Participants of war often focus on the spoken lines and movements of its principal actors. As spectators, civilians watch from theater seats while soldiers, politicians, and weapons of destruction act out the military drama, their performances coming to define the very summation of the word “war.” But a nation shares an event of war-an event outwardly performed by soldiers, while inwardly performed by civilians trying to keep the home fires burning. What I hope to do with Chapters 5 and 6 is show how this inward performance can create in stay-at-home Americans as much distance from self, others, and beloved warriors as violence can create distance in the soldier.
