Analysis

You can take the POW out of captivity, but you can’t take captivity out of the POW. Freed from The Bird’s clutches, Louie tries to make a new life for himself back in America. That new life includes the hope of “happily ever after” with a beautiful young wife, Cynthia Applewhite.

Louie’s insistence on marrying Cynthia as soon as possible, against her family’s wishes, is more than just reckless love. It’s symptomatic of his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and “suffocating anxiety”—an extension of his unhealthy need to hoard things after his years of extended deprivation. For him, Cynthia symbolizes happiness, security, and a future. Louie is afraid that will all be taken from him—just as it was in the POW camps—if he allows her to postpone their wedding. He’s a free man now, but inside he’s still fighting to escape the mental and spiritual anxiety caused by The Bird.