him. Casimir "Polack" Czienwicz comes from a lower-class Polish family. He grows up with seven siblings and, after his father dies, he enters the orphanage. At thirteen, an older woman seduces him multiple times. These experiences make Polack a tough, courageous soldier in the Army. Oscar Ridges is extremely Christian. He assures Wyman, who refers to him as “the preacher,” that “The Lord’ll keep me from shooting a Christian”. Despite his Christian beliefs, Ridges befriends Goldstein as his buddy. This friendship between a Jew and Christian demonstrates how the war brought men of different backgrounds together. Buddy Wyman does not play a major role within the novel. He dreams of becoming a war hero in order to support his mother and himself. Steven Minetta is twenty years old and was known as the “best dresser on the block” when he was growing up. He is eventually wounded but then returns to the platoon. At the conclusion of the novel, Minetta feels anger towards power figures and hopes to “expose the goddam Army.” Dalleson was second in command to Cummings, who deliberately picked an officer of lower rank so that he could be intimidated. He was very nervous throughout the novel and did not trust his own judgment. At the end of the novel, however, it is Dalleson's attack plan and his competent handling of forces that help win the battle against the Japanese. Themes Throughout the novel, Mailer dwells on many themes. These themes are recurring throughout his works and reappear in several of his later essays and novels. Dehumanization of soldiers Commenting on the dehumanization of soldiers in The Naked and the Dead, Mailer said, "The book finds man corrupted, confused to the point of helplessness, but it also find that there are limits beyond which he cannot be pushed." The narrator illustrates the exhaustion and humiliation of the soldiers' life: “When a man was harnessed into a pack and web belt and carried a rifle and two bandoliers and several grenades, a bayonet and a helmet, he felt as if he had a tourniquet over both shoulders and across his chest. It was hard to breathe and his limbs kept falling asleep.” Dehumanization of the soldier is also seen in Chapter 5 when the platoon had to carry antitank guns between 1st Battalion and A Company, which was about a mile of muddy trail. The men became numb