Rifle (symbol)
The Marines' rifles are extensions of their identities, their only partners during boot camp. Hartman trains them to treat their rifle as a lover, and to sleep with it as if it were a woman. Reciting the Rifleman's Creed, the men announce that without their rifles they are nothing. Pyle extends Hartman's ideas about rifles too far by talking to his rifle, eventually using it to kill Hartman and himself. Significantly, Joker's rifle locks up at the end of the film, failing him, suggesting that the power of rifles is limited, and not as absolute as Hartman would like the men to believe.
Humiliation (motif)
In the all-male world of Full Metal Jacket, men humiliate each other for sport. Hartman humiliates all of the recruits in order to "motivate" them, and the platoon humiliates Pyle with a vicious hazing after he fails to perform adequately. The Marines constantly try to embarrass and undermine one another with racial epithets and intimidating demeanors—for instance, Animal Mother steals the prostitute away from Eightball before spitefully saying, "All fucking niggers must fucking hang."
Hell (allegory)
Kubrick and Herr frame Joker's entry into Phu Bai as a descent into hell. A sadistic helicopter gunner who relishes murdering women and children ushers Joker and Rafterman over the river to the front, not unlike how, in ancient Greek mythology Charon ferries doomed souls across the River Styx into Hades. After Joker asks the gunner about his behavior, the gunner says, "Ain't war hell?" The implication is that the men are entering a zone where moral norms cease to exist, and death, violence, and suffering are pervasive.
Helmet (symbol)
Each man's helmet is inscribed with a different message that reveals something specific and notable about their identity and philosophy. Joker's, which reads "BORN TO KILL," becomes ironic in light of the peace symbol button he wears on his jacket. Animal Mother's helmet, which reads "I AM BECOME DEATH," reflects his uncontrollable bloodthirstiness under pressure, as well as his discomfort with the expressive capability of language.
Peace button (symbol)
Joker's insistence on wearing a peace symbol button makes him a target for suspicion. Lockhart, his editor at Stars and Stripes, urges Joker to remove it, as does a colonel that Joker later encounters in the field. Joker maintains that the peace symbol, in combination with his "BORN TO KILL" helmet, is a statement on "the duality of man." The peace symbol suggests that Joker is ambivalent about the ethical defensibility of the war effort, but remains dedicated to documenting it, and the men involved.
