The gold star in Sabbath’s childhood window is a motif that reflects The Power of Loss and Grief. The gold star is meant to signify a family that lost a loved one in the war. It is meant to honor their sacrifice and commitment but Sabbath sees it as something else: “We were one of those families with a gold star in the window. It meant that not only was my brother dead, my mother was dead” (144). To Sabbath, this symbol of honor is a dark reminder of the grief his family suffers, and that this gold signifies nothing bright and hopeful, but rather reflects the dark tragedy of the loss of his brother and the dissolution of his mother. The pressure the gold star brings and the constant reminder of these losses drives Sabbath out of the house: “Maybe that’s why I went to sea, to get the fuck away from the gold star. The gold star said, ‘People have suffered something terrible in this house.’ The house with the gold star was a blighted house” (144). Once again, there is a contradiction between the appearance of the gold star and the meaning behind it.