George had to deal with so much at such a young age that it altered his psyche to cope with it. We can see here as well the survivor's guilty that is affecting him due to him surviving the bombing that killed his platoon. The pain of this must be unbearable knowing you survived with only a flesh wound while the lives of your comrades were taken right next to you

It is crazy to think that at such a young age he was able to assess what was happening around him and compartmentalize it in order to maintain his sanity. I mean I'm 99% sure I could never be do what he did considering the carnage and violence he saw. It shows how amazing the human mind is at dealing with traumatic events.

These two sentences are very telling of the time and treatment of woman at the time. The expectation of a male no matter race is still higher than that of a woman. You can also see here the changing race relations that are happening and how woman now feel left out of society because of their gender. I think the comparison was made to show that even a previously marginalized group now has more respect and almost equal opportunity then is awarded to woman.