The main target here is war and its inevitable horrors, the physical and mental distress it causes through not only death but injury, and its effect on family and loved ones, the effect of injuries on the injured towards loved ones, the unspeakableness of war as symbolised by the main character Édouard Péricourt with his lost lower jaw and tongue. Édouard was born into wealth, and this could also be called 'Pride and Prejudice' without any loss of meaning.
Capitalism is also under attack, mainly in the figures of the people who profit from the results of war, especially Lieutenant d'Aulnay-Pradelle (later scandalously promoted to General), who has tried to kill Édouard and the man whose life he saves, Albert Maillard, born of very humble parents. Édouard and Albert are platonically bonded for the rest of their lives.
In this long but never boring story (615 pages) set mainly immediately after world War I, class itself isn't really a problem (apart from with the nervous and self-conscious Albert), and nor is sexual orientation (Édouard's homosexuality being unknown to Albert and barely perceived by his father). Essentially this is goodies and baddies, with Pradelle being the main villain.
Édouard of course must be the tragic figure, accidentally killed by his father, but the reader can't help loving his fellow thief Albert and his at the time unwitting partner Pauline (Péricourt's former maid) and both escape to Libya, where Pauline even successfully knocks down the price of her partner's freedom: the value of money is infectious. A great book which is also about identity, but that's another issue.
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