Trench Monologue

1171 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essays on post traumatic stress disorder in veterans

I woke up screaming. I didn’t sleep last night, and decided to take a nap, hoping the nightmares wouldn’t come haunt me again—but they did, and they always do. There was a faint orange glow coming from the window. The sun is setting already? Even though I slept through my day, I am still exhausted. I don’t want to get up, because I know getting up means resuming the day. And resuming the day means that I have to carry on as if nothing is wrong, when everything is wrong. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. I was supposed to be a hero after the war. I was supposed to be okay after the war. I didn’t think the trench would follow me, reminding me of all the people I killed and all the friends I let die. People tell me it’s not my fault they …show more content…

I want to live a calm life. Endless nights with my comrades, early mornings with my wife and children. A purpose—wouldn’t that be wonderful? But I’m trapped in a prison that I created for myself. A prison that is ruthless and unyielding. It feeds me lies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. My roommate is my sorrows. Hope has been released, never to be seen again—and I hate it. But when you are told to love your life, all I see are prison bars. “Why do I bother?” I slam my pencil down and shove my notebook away. Once I stand the world sways beneath me. I felt as if I was sinking through the floor. Nothing was what it was. No one was who they were. My world turned into the labyrinth; everything was wrong. Is it strange to say that I missed the war? In the trench I had control of my thoughts, I had a purpose. I just want to go home. But where is home, exactly? My home doesn’t feel like home. I was sick of these plastered walls staring me down. The room is awfully small. I barely have a good enough job to pay my rent. I don’t know why I still have my job, I rarely come to work anymore. The streets are no better. The world has turned beige since the war. Everything I do seems meaningless and boring. I never speak unless I have to, because I feel like nobody is listening or wants to listen in

Show More
Related

  • The Letter in All Quiet on the Wester Front

    462 Words  | 1 Pages

    Just like you I had once fallen for all of the propaganda going around Germany. An old teacher I used to know named Kantorich had filled my and many of my classmates heads with patriotic reasons to why we should join the army. We eventually gave in to this crazy man and signed in. From the very first battle I have been in all I have been around is horror, bodies tangling into unnatural shapes, blood and tears everywhere, along with watching close friends of mine die horrible deaths. One of my classmates named Joseph Behm was the most reluctant to give into Kantorek’s pressure, he died a very slow and horrible death. Another close friend of mine had received a leg wound and, after treatment, took a day or two to realize that he had his leg amputated. Soon after, he had died also. I have been around many horrific battles where I have found myself diving into unburied graves to just stay alive. Over and over again I see men turned into a mush of blood and splintered bones and I wonder when it will be my turn to get it. Tobacco and card games seem to be my only salvation to maintain my sanity. The only hope that I have seen demonstrated out of any of my fellow soldiers has been scarce talk about who will do what after the war. I personally feel that my peers and I have had the rest of our lives stolen from us. Even if I do get out of this nightmare I realize that I have no established life to come back to, my old hobby in poetry has escaped me as it seems that all of this awfulness has made me a hardened man, ignorant to all of the old interests that I had.

    Read More

  • Epilogue: Lord of the Flies

    791 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ralph sat on the edge of the old bed, a sigh leaving his lips. He always had a hard time sleeping after he and the other boys had been saved nearly two years ago. Over the course of the two years, the war had ended with both sides realizing neither could win. Moscow, London, Washington D.C., Paris, and Berlin had all been obliterated, leaving only a ghostly set of ruins, and violent memories.

    Read More

  • Soldiers' Account of Trench Life

    2311 Words  | 5 Pages

    Soldiers' Account of Trench Life Life in the trenches was horrific; the frontline soldiers dreaded having to return to them. During their tour of duty there, they lived in considerable tension. The trenches were far from safe; possibly one third of all casualties on the Weston front were killed or wounded in the trenches, mostly from artillery fire. In this essay I will be discussing and comparing the accuracy and differences between the soldiers' accounts of the trenches and official accounts composed by the government.

    Read More

  • The Society of Captives: A Study of a Maximum Security Prison

    1648 Words  | 4 Pages

    The “pains of imprisonment” can be divided into five main conditions that attack the inmate’s personality and his feeling of self-worth. The deprivations are as follows: The deprivation of liberty, of goods and services, of heterosexual relationships, autonomy and of security.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of A Place To Stand

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    Prisoners are confronted with a unique set of exigencies and pressures to which they are forced to respond and adapt to, in order to survive. In Jimmy Santiago Baca’s memoir “A Place to Stand,” he tells his courageous story. In Baca’s book, he identifies the prison system as being flawed and the immense amount of torment he had become accustomed to while incarcerated. When describing the terrible reality of prison, he reveals the effects of prison on the lives of the people around him, and how the human spirit can only take so much before it breaks.

    Read More

  • Inhumanity of Solitary Confinement in America

    769 Words  | 2 Pages

    Imagine. You are alone with your thoughts. There is nothing that can separate you from their unpredictable horrors because you spend 23 hours a day completely alone. In silence you wait, desperate for a chance to leave the four-walled, concrete cell you now call home. These are the conditions of solitary confinement that are still in widespread use throughout America today. Although solitary confinement may seem like the safest way to protect other prisoners, guards and even the inmate himself, it is an inhumane and cruel punishment and it has the opposite effect of what prisons are intended for. .

    Read More

  • The Dehumanizing Effects of Solitary Confinement

    1115 Words  | 3 Pages

    The effects of prolonged isolation for inmates in confinement cells are obsessive-compulsive tendencies, paranoia, anger-management issues, and severe anxiety (Sifferlin, Alexandra). Along with the basic concepts such as food, water, and shelter, there are two other basics that Dr. Terry Kupers states are required for human wellbeing: “social interaction and meaningful activity. By doing things we learn who we are and we learn our worth as a person. The two things solitary confinement does are make people solitary and idle” (Sifferlin, Alexandra). Isolation and confinement remove prisoners’ ability to perform significant tasks and act as a part of society. This dehumanizes the inmates because they are no longer able to understand their role as a human being. One inmate, Jeanne DiMola, spent a year in solitary confinement and expressed her thoughts while in the cell: “I felt sorry I was born … Most of all I felt sorry that there wasn 't a road to kill myself because every day was worse than the last" (Rodhan, Maya). In DiMola’s opinion, a death penalty more than likely would have felt more humane than the isolation she experienced. Another prisoner, Damon Thibodeaux, stated, “Life in solitary is made all the worse because it 's a hopeless existence … It is torture

    Read More

  • Inside The Gouverneur Correctional Facility

    994 Words  | 2 Pages

    Through two metal, cold doors, I was exposed to a whole new world. Inside the Gouverneur Correctional Facility in New York contained the lives of over 900 men who had committed felonies. Just looking down the pathway, the grass was green, and the flowers were beautifully surrounding the sidewalks. There were different brick buildings with their own walkways. You could not tell from the outside that inside each of these different buildings 60 men lived. On each side, sharing four phones, seven showers, and seven toilets. It did not end there, through one more locked metal door contained the lives of 200 more men. This life was not as beautiful and not nearly as big. Although Gouverneur Correctional Facility was a medium security prison, inside this second metal door was a high wired fence, it was a max maximum security prison. For such a clean, beautifully kept place, it contained people who did awful, heart-breaking things.

    Read More

  • Analyzing Holmes The Soldier's Faith

    910 Words  | 2 Pages

    So too come back several memories of dead comrades, as Holmes talks movingly of several friends killed in the war. Memory’s train of thought was slow in leaving the stations of the past. Holmes and his listeners have “seen the best and noblest of our generation pass away.” But there is a consolation.

    Read More

  • Outline For Prison Reform Research Paper

    1190 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jefferson High school The Call for Prison Reform Micah Lillard Composition Sarah Owens April 5, 2024. Audience: Government Purpose: Creating a better environment for prisoners and bettering them when they are free Thesis: Prisons must be reformed in order for them to have safe lives not only inside these prisons, but also outside when they are released back into the world. I. Introduction A. Small cells, horrible food, harsh punishments, and minimal security are only a few of the problems within prisons.

    Read More

  • Solitary Confinement Thesis

    1226 Words  | 3 Pages

    INTRODUCTION Hook: Solitary is often referred as the prison within the prison by correctional officers, and for good reason. Context (background information needed to understand your topic): Solitary confinement is what we will talk about today, and why it should be banned from prisons. For those of you who don’t know Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which an inmate is isolated from any human contact, often apart from members of prison staff, for 22–24 hours a day, with a sentence ranging from days to decades. As humans, this is not good for people. PURPOSE/THESIS STATEMENT (with Speech Map):

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Alternate Ending

    956 Words  | 2 Pages

    I woke when I felt someone continuously nudging me. “Scarlett, it’s time to wake up.” He whispered. I opened my eyes slightly and saw that it was Chris. I glanced over at a window to see dawn.

    Read More

  • Inmate Subculture Essay

    724 Words  | 2 Pages

    Schmalleger (2018) writes the world we live in today, people live in groups and create their own cultures, but nothing comes close to the intensity of human interaction at the level found in prisons. Prison society is strict and often unforgiving. The reality of prison life,

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Edward Thomas 'The Retreat'

    963 Words  | 2 Pages

    I said ‘I wish this were over!” they said ‘Shut Up’ ” (128)(LL 130-132). The poem gives an account of how the fellow troops at most cases felt throughout the war, carrying feelings such as being scared and oppressed by others in their surroundings. Furthermore, such psychological mindset guided the troops to dissolution.

    Read More

  • Descriptive Essay About Home

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Home is where love resides, memories are created, friends always belong, and laughter never ends (Robot check).” A place becomes a home for me when I am around all the things that I enjoy and love. For example, when I am around everyone that I love, I enjoy a peaceful environment and the beautiful landscapes around me. The interpretation of home for me is not a physical thing that I see or that I can remember or even certain thoughts that I can relate, but it is a sensation that overcomes me when I envision being in the comfort of my own home. However, I know that this is a feeling that is calming to my soul and it quietly reassures me that I genuinely belong in a place where I can be free from people constantly judging me.

    Read More

More about Trench Monologue

Open Document