Posttraumatic stress disorder is a psychological disorder that occurs after a person has been through a traumatic event, such as combat warfare. In this essay, I would like to compare Vietnam soldiers to soldiers in the Trojan War, and contrast the similarities and differences between the two, also analyze how soldiers’ lives have been affected similarly throughout two completely different wars. I would also like to show the irony of war, and how war doesn’t only dehumanize soldiers, but it also inspires valuable human qualities. In the movie Achilles in Vietnam, Dr. Shay does a great job by showing us how the psychological devastation of Vietnam veterans compares to the one Achilles experienced after losing his beloved comrade, Patroclus. …show more content…
Within book six of the Iliad, we see how warfare interferes with personal relationships such as a marriage. Homer wants us to see not just how the soldiers suffer and feel alone during war, but also how their families feel as well. Hector’s wife doesn’t want him to go to war, because she knows how strong the Greeks are and Andromache also knows that Hector will be killed. Hector also knows he will be killed, but he makes this sacrifice to fight in the war, not only for his city of Troy but also for his family. Within this scene, we see the irony of war. Although war is terrible, and it dehumanizes soldiers and leaves them often emotionless, they also develop a sense of belonging, they gain new leadership traits and valuable human qualities such as comradeship, loyalty, and most of all- courage. These are all virtues Hector shows us in book 6. Homer wants us to see the very few but positive effects war has on soldiers. Although war tears families apart, soldiers become part of a family; a brotherhood and these relationships help them develop qualities they may have never developed before. Hector is courageous enough to finish fighting, although he knows he will lose, he is still loyal to his family by trying to provide a better life for them after the war has ended, and also to his brothers, by standing by them and fighting the Greeks off together, finishing this fight strong, representing his city as a leader, not as a scared soldier who chose to run away and be safe. Hector shows us he thinks critically, logically, not emotionally like Agamemnon did, which led to the Greeks being
War has been a constant part of human history. It has greatly affected the lives of people around the world. These effects, however, are extremely detrimental. Soldiers must shoulder extreme stress on the battlefield. Those that cannot mentally overcome these challenges may develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Sadly, some resort to suicide to escape their insecurities. Soldiers, however, are not the only ones affected by wars; family members also experience mental hardships when their loved ones are sent to war. Timothy Findley accurately portrays the detrimental effects wars have on individuals in his masterpiece The Wars.
He supports his claim by giving statistical facts of how many veterans exposed to Agent Orange during their time at war requested examinations and counseling by Veteran Affairs. Scott then states that men of all wars, not just the Vietnam War, struggled to gain support in treatment for war related injuries. He thoroughly supports Spake’s claim of psychological distress within his article by stating that when at war claims of distress were low, but once home, mental and physical anguish intensified. Scott’s purpose is to explain, inform, and describe the mental trials of Agent Orange exposed war veterans in order to make readers aware of the hardships the men faced. Scott creates an informative tone for readers of higher education and an interest in psychological disorders and war
The Vietnam War and the Trojan War were two separate tragedies that took place in very different time periods yet. They have many things in common such as their senselessness, the brutality shown, and the way the soldiers were treated when they returned to their homeland. In this paper we will touch on those three topics explaining the petty causes of the war and how cruelly the opposing potencies attacked the enemy. Also, we will discover the great similarity in how the soldiers were treated upon returning from the war and how the war affected their lives.
One of the first portrayals of Ancient Greece warfare comes from Homers epic the Iliad. During the Homeric Age the center of political organization were the households. The conduct of war was based on the ability of the leader of the household to assemble his supporters. However the cost of buying armor and weaponry was expensive therefore only the few wealthy could afford it. This created an aristocratic elite with the mode of fighting being the heroic model, a one-on-one battle between elites. This changes with the social change in the eight-century, where the phalanx will take over the mode of warfare.
Throughout the Iliad, heroic characters make decisions based on a specific set of principles, which are referred to as the “code of honor.” The heroic code that Homer presents to readers is easy to recognize because the heroic code is the cause for many of the events that take place, but many of the characters have different perceptions of how highly the code should be regarded. Hector, the greatest of the Trojan warriors, begins the poem as a model for a hero. His dedication and firm belief in the code of honor is described many times throughout the course of the Iliad. As a reward for heroic traits in battle, prizes were sometimes awarded to victors of war. In Book 1 Achilles receives Chryseis as a prize and a symbol of honor. Heroism had its rewards and its setbacks which ultimately was the backbone of the Illiad in the case of Achilles prize. Hector, arguably the greatest Trojan warrior or even the bravest of the Homeric heroes is very fierce and fights for what he believes is his destiny. In book VI Hector expresses his bravery when Andromache pleads with Hector not to fight when Hector says, “But I would die of shame to face the men of Troy and the Trojan woman trailing their long robes if I would shrink from battle now, a coward. Nor does the sprit urge me on that way. I’ve learned it all too well. To stand up bravely, always to fight in the front ranks of Trojan soldiers, winning my father great glory, glory for myself” (VI, 387).
"Andromache, dear one, why so desperate? Why so much grief for me? No man will hurl me down to Death, against my fate. And fate? No one alive has ever escaped it, neither brave man nor coward, I tell you it 's born with us the day that we are born. So please go home and tend to your own tasks, the distaff and the loom, and keep the women working hard as well. As for the fighting, men will see to that, all who were born in Troy but I most of all" (Homer 6. 579-589). These particular lines demonstrate Hectors ' loyalty to his family and how far he is willing to go for his family. He is willing to die for his family but before he does, he starts to ensure that his family remains safe. Family seems to a driving factor in Hectors ' life, which could be viewed as a negative thing. For him to drop everything in the world for his family, even risk his life for them could stab him in the back if he let it. For example, if his wife was in grave peril and he had to choose between the lives of his people during a war or her life, he would choose her life but a smart leader would choose the lives of his
The Hurt Locker directed by Kathryn Bigelow and a winner of six Academy Awards, demonstrated the life of soldiers in and out of war and the lasting effects that combat has on their lives. Jeremy Renner, in the role of Sergeant William James, plays the lead character in the film followed by supporting actors, Anthony Mackie as Sergeant Sanborn, and Brian Geraghy as Specialist Eldridge. With increased threats of terrorist’s attacks in the Twenty First Century, the ideas discussed in this paper are representative of the growing need to understand the psychological effects war has on soldiers. The review of the film, The Hurt Locker along with war-related literature focuses on war as a form of addiction, and analyzes how the brutality of war disrupts the lives of individuals on both sides of the social conflict.
War is no child 's play, but unfortunately, we have had times in our past when the youth of our great nation had to defend it. Combat is not an easy for anyone; watching death, the constant ring of gunfire, the homesickness, fearing for your life, and witnessing bloodshed daily, this will begin to take its toll. The minds threshold for brutality can only handle so much and eventually will become sickened by these events. This sickness is called Post-traumatic stress disorder. As shown through the characters of The Things They Carried, soldiers of war may begin to show PTSD symptoms before the war is over, and may continue to fight the disorder after the war has ended.
Throughout the text, major characters seem to be at constant battle with their different emotions. This inner conflict is mirrored by the everyday conflicts between the gods. Just as Zeus and Hera are constantly at odds with one another, so are the different sides of Achilles: his cultural responsibility, pride, honor, and revenge. No one is completely at peace with his or her conflicting emotions in The Iliad – and therefore, neither are the gods, who represent these emotions. Hector is a prime example of a human who finds himself torn between two forces: his love for his growing family, and his duty as a prince of Troy. He admits to Andromache that he worries about his own mortality, but emphasizes that “I would die of shame to face the men of Troy…if I would shrink from battle now, a coward.” (Homer 6: 523, 525). Hector’s deeply ingrained sense of honor and loyalty to home is clearly established in the beginning of the text. Therefore, when Zeus later grants Hector “power to kill and kill till you cut your way to the benched ships” (Homer 11: 241-242), it is not too much of a stretch to attribute Hector’s dodged perseverance to his upbringing and rigid sense of duty, rather than to the
For example, Hector does not like to fight in battle, the only reason why he fights is because he is the only way Troy could ever win the war. However, Achilles loves the war. He even chose being a warrior over having a long life, something that Hector probably would not do. Achilles is drawn to war because of his anger. As I have previously stated, Hector is only fighting in the war because he has to fight for the city of Troy. Achilles on the other hand, does not have to fight for his city. This is because the Greeks are not being attacked. Also, Hector is human. Although his father is a wealthy king, he does not have any god- like powers. Achilles however, is a demi-god he is an exceptional warrior and great runner because of this. Also, because he is a demi-god he is only venerable in his heel. While Hector, being a human, is venerable everywhere. Lastly, Hector is not dictated by rage like Achilles. Even before their battle Hector showed respect towards Achilles. Hector did so by saying “With all the gods as witnesses, I swear: if Zeus gives me the victory over you, I will not dishonor your corps, only strip the armor and give the body back to the Greeks. Promise you’ll do the same.” (22. 281-285). Hector is the perfect foil for Achilles, everything Hector stands for and everything he is, is the polar opposite of
...den tone, and despite all the fame and greatness Hektor has acquired, all is lost in Troy, as a result of his death. Homer must be portraying an anti-war attitude here, otherwise he would surely end the play with the triumph of Achilleus, or the victory of the Argives over Troy. If he had positive or even neutral thoughts about war, he would end with and upbeat triumph, but he does not. The final book makes the Iliad out to be a tragedy, which is exactly what Homer thought war was, an unnecessary tragedy. The point that Homer wants to get across with his final book is that all the action and all the fighting that went on for all those years is not something to be proud of, for it ruined multitudes of lives. The extreme agony and woe only help to show that Homer believes that the positives of war could never encompass all the sorrow and negative consequences of war.
It is more than normal for soldiers of war to feel anxious and depressed after they return from war. I have chosen to look into the themes “ the war never ends for soldiers’’ and ‘’soldiers continue to receive no thanks for their commitment”. This theme is exposed immensely and shows this theme strongly in the texts 21 guns by Green Day, Hero Of War by Rise Against, Siege Of Jadotville by Richie Smith, and Rambo by Ted Kotcheff.
In Homer’s The Iliad he tells of the battles and events during the time of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles. This was just a small portion of the Trojan War that had lasted ten years. The Iliad shares the ideas of the glory of war, military values over family life, and the impermanence of human life and its creation. One thing that Homer does is characterize the two different warriors Achilles and Hector. These two great warriors both show different kinds of traits that shape the character they become throughout the The Iliad. Achilles is the main hero in The Iliad, but Homer subliminally tries to persuade the reader that Hector is the true hero in this story.
It was an engraved rule in the ancient Greek culture for men to fulfill their duty as soldiers and willingly confront death. The soldiers are “ intoxicated by a false sense of invincibility” and trust that death is worth honor (Bruce 5). Hector represented the ideal soldier. When he chose to fight Achilles and defend Troy he declared “My better part is to face him for life and death. Either I shall kill him and return with triumph, or I shall die with honor before the gate” (Homer 315). Hector knew he would die, but was convinced he had to die fighting. David Gill explained “On a deeper level, they face death in battle precisely because they must die. In the end, there is no escaping death, but glory gained by killing others in combat can bestow a kind of immortality” (3). With the Heroic Code, ancient Greek men were fated to die young. Achilles was the first to review their predisposition. Later, when Achilles’ closest comrades tried to persuade him to rejoin the war effort he explained “If I stay here and fight before the city of Troy, there will be no homecoming for me but my fame shall never die; if I go home to my native land, there will be no great fame for me, but I shall live long and not die an early death” (Homer 128). Achilles debated his two fates, and chose life over honor. While other warriors would have gone and died in battle without a second thought, Achilles’ decision to not fight illustrated the flaws of the Heroic Code and the war-obsessed Greek society. Through Achilles’ struggle Homer tried to remind young men that they are allowed to ask themselves if death is worth the price of
Hector is just mainly a good person. He has his flaws just like every other person who ever lived, but it seems as if his strengths outweighed his flaws. Hector loves his wife and his son more than he loves himself. He was loyal to his wife and wanted the very best for his son. He left them to go fight because he knew it was what he had to do for Troy (Homer 79). In today’s world, people do not merely look for someone who is a great warrior, but also someone who is an overall good person. Hector is very brave and reasonable. He is very courageous and will fight for his country no matter what the cost. Hector does not act like a child in difficult situations like Achilles does, but he acts like a mature man. Along with Hector being a good person, he is also a great warrior on top of all that. The modern world needs somebody they can look up to who acts in a positive way. Hector never turned against his own country like Achilles did when he wanted Zeus to be on the Trojan’s side (Homer 13). The people in ancient times chose Achilles rather than Hector merely because Achilles is an outstanding warrior and he is part god. Fighting is what Achilles excels at, and at that time, that was really the only aspect that mattered. It does not matter that Achilles is selfish, stubborn, and prideful, as long as he can fight well for his country. The Greeks were actually hurt by this because Achilles did not even end up fighting for his country until his best friend died. His stubbornness outweighed his greatness (Homer 178). Achilles was the greatest warrior physically, but he was far from the greatest