@Gilgamesh Not really. It is a soldier's story. But in the time it takes place, only veterans have the franchise. But EVERYONE is allowed to serve, even if they are incapable of doing the easiest job the military will invent a job for them to do. It is suggested that if one were blind and deaf and still wanted to serve then they would be given the job counting the hairs on a caterpillar by touch. The reason why the franchise was only given to veterans who had completed their term of service was because by doing so they demonstrated that they could put their own selfish needs second to the need of the species as a whole. The book is not a defense of fascism or militarism or anything else. It is a simple soldier's story which conveys a sociological message about sacrifice.
