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Psychological effects of war on soldiers
Psychological effects of war on soldiers
The psychological effects of war
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Redeployment and Bodies
Redeployment and Bodies are both short stories by Phil Klay that vividly illustrates the experiences of soldiers in war and on the homefront. Redeployment tells the story about a man named Sgt. Price who tells about his experiences on the battlefield and how he tries to readjust to society in America. He struggles at the end of the story when he has to put down his dog. The narrator of bodies tells the story of how he processed dead bodies in the war. The story reveals his character development and how he tells the "what really happened" to a man at the bar. Redeployment is a war story that is melancholy because it gives a glimpse of what marines go through. Similarly, Bodies is another war story that is gloomy because
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Price both went to war. However, they both had different jobs in the war and had different experiences. To start with, at the beginning of the story, one of Price 's comrades observes dogs drinking blood and he and everyone else start shooting them. Price describes the moment and explains,"We shot dogs. Not by accident. We did it on purpose, and we called it Operation Scooby. I 'm a dog person, so I thought about that a lot" (Klay 1). One can interpret this that the dogs show symbolism of innocence. The dogs weren 't attacking anybody and were minding their own business. When all the Price shot the dogs, he must have felt guilt which would linger on throughout the story. Another incident was when Price observes one of his die. Price illustrates the moment and says, "But thinking of Cheryl made me feel guilty, and I 'd think about Lance Corporal Hernandez, Corporal Smith, and Eicholtz. We were like brothers, Eicholtz and me. We were like brothers, Eicholtz and me. The two of us saved this Marine 's life one time. A few weeks later, Eicholtz is climbing over a wall. Insurgent pops out a window, shoots him in the back when he 's halfway over" (Klay 2-3). This is compelling because Price actually witnessed people being killed which is different than the narrator from Bodies where he would just process them. Although Marines are trained to shut away emotion when someone dies, one can assume that Price would take damage to himself psychologically
"The war was over and there was no place in particular to go" (157). Thoughts of sorrow and loss overwhelm the Vietnam veterans upon their return back home. Crushed from the horror of war, they come back to even bigger disappointments and sadness. Instead of the mellow lives they lead before they left their native country and the presence of warm and caring everyday life, most of them encounter empty beds, cold family ambiance and overall loss. Already physically and emotionally defeated, they find betrayal instead of recuperating trust. There is nothing to nourish their depleted and deprived psyches; they do not find anything to rely on. Even in instances of supportive partners, the inevitable horrors of the war haunt them in sleep or come back to them in daydreaming. They all came back with multitude of disorders, predominately with a post traumatic stress disorder with the common symptoms of recurring nightmares, hypersensitivity, avoidance behavior, and intrusive thoughts, feelings and memories-commonly found in war vets. The Things They Carried represents a compound documentary novel written by a Vietnam veteran, Tim O'Brien, in whose accounts on the Vietnam war one encounters graphical depictions of the PTSD. Thus, the stories "Speaking of Courage," "The Man I Killed," "How to Tell a True War Story," "Enemies" and "Friends, " "Stockings," and "The Sweetheart of The Song Tra Bong "all encompass various examples of PTSD.
In the book Soldier's Heart By Gary Paulsen the main theme is how war changes a person.
O’Brien, Tim. “How To Tell a True War Story.” The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford St. Martins, 2003. p. 420-429.
Redeployment, a national book award winner by author Phil Klay it is a powerful informative book about the Iraq war. It is compose of twelve incredible stories. The most memorable story for me is title “Bodies.” The title got my attention emotionally and logically. Making sense of life to readjust in the civilian world is the main theme of the story, which I believed it is a struggle to find direction to continue to live life and not just existed. Manipulation was another theme that maked the process of connecting with people less stressful.
Henry Fosdick once said, “The tragedy of war is that it uses man’s best to do man’s worst.” In “The Red Convertible” by Louis Erdrich, there is a conflict amongst two brothers, Henry and Lyman as ones awareness towards reality is shifted upon the return of the Vietnam War. Henry’s experience fighting in the Vietnam War is the responsibility for the unexpected aftermath that affects their brotherhood. The event of Henry fighting in the war through fears, emotions and horrors that he encounters is the source of his “Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome [PTSD].” It has shaped his own perception of reality and his relationship with his brother Lyman and the strong bond that they had shared.
In the two novels of recent war literature Redeployment, by Phil Klay, and The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, both call attention to the war’s destruction of its soldiers’ identities. With The Things They Carried, we are introduced to the story of a young Lieutenant Jimmy Cross who is currently fighting in the Vietnam War and holds a deep crush for his college-lover Martha. Jimmy carries many letters from Martha with him throughout the war, and he envisions this romantic illusion in which “more than anything, he want[s] Martha to love him as he love[s] her” (1). However, a conflict quickly transpires between his love for Martha and his responsibilities with the war, in which he is ultimately forced to make a decision between the two.
The author, Tim O'Brien, is writing about an experience of a tour in the Vietnam conflict. This short story deals with inner conflicts of some individual soldiers and how they chose to deal with the realities of the Vietnam conflict, each in their own individual way as men, as soldiers.
Though in his short life Stephen Crane was never a soldier, his novel The Red Badge of Courage was commended by Civil War veterans as well as veterans from more recent wars not only for its historical accuracy but its ability to capture the psychological evolution of those on the field of battle (Heizberg xvi). Walt Whitman, on the other hand, served as a field medic during the Civil War. He was exposed perhaps to the most gruesome aspect of the war on a daily basis: the primitive medical techniques, the wounded, the diseased, the dying and the dead. Out of his experiences grew a collection of poems, "Drum Taps" , describing the horrors he had witnessed and that America suffered. As literary artists, a wide chasm of structure and style separates Crane and Whitman. The common cultural experience, the heritage of the Civil War connects them, throwing a bridge across the darkness, allowing them, unilaterally, to dispel notions of glorious battles and heroic honorable deaths. By examining Crane's Henry Fleming and the wound dresser from 'Whitman's poem of the same name, both fundamental literary differences and essential thematic consistencies emerge.
"War is hell . . . war is mystery terror and adventure and courage and discovery and despair and . . . war is nasty (80)." When it all happened it was not like "a movie you aren't a hero and all you can do is whimper and wait (211)." O'Brien and the rest of the solders were just ordinary people thrust into extraordinary situations. They needed to tell blatant lies" to "bring the body and soul back together (239)." They needed to eliminate the reality of death. As ordinary people they were not capable of dealing with the engulfing realities of death and war therefore they needed to create coping skills. O'Brien approaches the loss of his childhood friend, Linda, in the same way he approaches the loss of his comrades in the war as this is the only way he knows how to deal with death. A skill he learned, and needed, in the Vietnam War.
It is said that when a man returns from war he is forever changed. In the short story, “The Red Convertible,” Louise Erdrich demonstrates these transformations through the use of symbolism. Erdrich employs the convertible to characterize the emotional afflictions that war creates for the soldier and his family around him by discussing the the pre-deployment relationship between two brothers Henry and Lyman, Lyman's perception of Henry upon Henry's return, and Henry’s assumed view on life in the end of the story.
War is serious! In the short story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, he recounts his personal experience with war and personal issues, not just any war but the Vietnam War. This was highly disregarded war by most Americans. Lives would be forever changed from their experiences of battles, guilt, wounds, heart brokes, emotions, and even death. The main character of the story is Tim O’Brien, who is also the narrator and protagonist. These collections of stories are a glimpse of his personal encounters. Another dynamic character was Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, commanding officer of the platoon. Other characters include Alpha Company soldiers Ted Lavender, Kiowa, and other soldiers. . The mission for O’Brien, his fellow battle buddies, and commanding officers is not easy and is filled with personal inner battles and conflicts. Some tried coping with things they carried from home and necessity items such as photos, military equipment and rifles, and miscellaneous foods among other things that would prove to be a turning point in t...
This contrast in style affirms that the soldiers are human and provides emphasis to the weight these intangible objects have on the soldiers. An emotional burden that the men must carry is the longing for their loved ones. The Vietnam War forced many young men to leave their loved ones and move halfway across the world to fight a questionable war in an unfamiliar land.... ... middle of paper ... ...
In both Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the narrators are stuck in situations where the emotional burden takes over their psyche. Each protagonist suffers a mental disjunction from reality. The narrator in “The Things They Carried” recounts on first-person events taken place in the Vietnam War. O’Brien tells of the various missions his company takes part in, as well as depicting the death of his fellow team members. The multiple deaths in O’Brien’s tenure begin to weigh heavily on his mind in his post-war adjustment as he struggles to adapt to life back home after his best friend’s death. “The Yellow Wallpaper” features a narrator that suffers from nervous depression and cannot
The story is riddled with death; all of the dead he’s has seen: Linda, Ted Lavender, Kiowa, Curt Lemon, the man he killed, and all the others without names. Through his memories of them he relives his time in Vietnam. By telling their stories he “keeps dreaming dreaming them alive.” to try and restore his
What it is like to go to War by Karl Marlantes is an extremely captivating story about what the war is like during and what the veterans who return home have to go through. It was a very intriguing read and gave the reader an inside look on the struggles of combat veterans that come back from war and have to readjust to society. After watching someone die daily and being wounded by a grenade himself, Marlantes’, received several medals for his actions including the Navy Cross, one of the highest combat awards. He treads carefully between the warrior as ‘hero’ and warrior as ‘victim,’ taking pains to articulate the diversity of his experience – the profound accomplishment he felt at receiving awards, in stark contrast to the frigid welcome back America He seems to have done research on top of his experience of war firsthand along with returning home after the war. He says that