Airplanes & Hooks

During the war, both men and women lost many things. They lost parts of their lives; they lost their loved ones; they lost their senses of purpose. In The Best Years of Our Lives, we learn a little more about what the soldiers sacrificed during the war. In the film, airplanes and hooks symbolize just two things that many men in the war lost.

Fred had had few work experiences before going to fight in the war. In the air force, he had been the person who helped drop bombs from the noses of airplanes, and now he is not trained for anything except working in planes. Although he has sacrificed a lot of time for his country, he is not eligible for a decent job because he does not have previous experience. He loses his sense of purpose when he can no longer work with planes...