Unknown Enemy 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. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is something many …show more content…
Similarly, to many other veterans, O 'Brien has a difficult time going into everyday life, everyone is curious about his experiences, his life and what happened while he is away and he just doesn 't want to talk about it. "In ordinary conversation I never spoke much about the war, but certainly not in detail" (O 'Brien 157). O 'Brien didn 't know how to express his feelings. He did not want to bring people into the side of him he tried to shut out. Similarly, to Jensen, O 'Brien didn 't know how to talk about what was plaguing him. Although the people may not have understood where he was coming from, they care about him and would want the best for him although he knew they would never they would never be able to understand the full extent of what has happened while they were …show more content…
Those who struggle with the disorder has been left with an impaired state of life. Known for causing social, occupational, and physically debilitating symptoms, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder causes life long problems. "I survived, but it 's not a happy ending"(O 'Brien 61) .Those who are diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder have to come to terms with their experiences, they have to learn to understand what happened and forgive themselves for it. Even after acceptance of their situation, triggers can cause a relapse into the depression or anxiety related to PTSD can occur. Triggers, something that sets off an attack, can be anything from a load noise to a someone rubbing you the wrong way. In O 'Brien 's case, a load noise may cause him to flash back to throwing the grenade. While someone aggressively talking to Jensen could cause him to be insecure with his surroundings and become fearful sending him into a
Scientific studies prove that “ psychotic symptoms have been associated with post-traumatic stress disorder and war experience”.(Amone-P’olak). A real thought from a child soldier shows the reality of a soldier into society, “perhaps the naïve foreigners thought that removing them from the war would lessen their hatred for the RUF. It hadn’t crossed their minds that a change of environment wouldn’t immediately make them normal boys; they are dangerous and brainwashed to kill.”(Beah,135). These thought explains the effect of a child soldier trying to recover at first to become a regular individual. Child soldiers, can be dangerous, even thought after the war has ended and can affect the society that they are surrounded
Nations may pay for the war, but soldiers pay the ultimate price, their lives. A soldier has to be willing to lose everything to gain freedom for others. Therefore a war is not fought by two nations, but rather than the millions of soldiers. With this comes great sacrifice and selflessness. In the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien three soldiers that stand to lose the most are Kiowa, Norman Bowker, and Jimmy Cross.
Not everyone who experiences trauma, obtains PTSD and some people are at more risk than others. Traumatic events a person experiences puts his/her body into a fight or flight mode, which causes the person to panic(Charles PTSD). Patients try to avoid triggering their stress with certain symbols, objects or motion surrounded by. Another soldier tells his story of experiencing PTSD about how he wasn’t on the battlefield, he was simply on a train, and started to see past experiences far worse than in Afghanistan. Inside the head Sebastian Jungers, he’s scared for his life while coming to the end of the train ride, he finds himself up against a support pole, he says “ The trains were coming into the station too fast, the lights were too bright, the world was too loud. I couldn’t quite explain what was wrong, but I was far more scared than I’d ever been in Afghanistan.”Junger says, “I stood there with my back to the column until I couldn’t take it anymore, and then I sprinted for the exit and walked home. I had no idea that what I’d just experienced had anything to do with combat; I just thought I was going crazy.” As In American Sniper, sniper Chris Kyle, and in the article Sebastian Junger both experience very similar situations with PTSD only difference is the person behind the
Experiences and Emotions in The Things They Carried Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried is not a novel about the Vietnam War. “It is a story about the soldiers and their experiences and emotions that are brought about from the war” (King 182). O'Brien makes several statements about war through these dynamic characters. He shows the violent nature of soldiers under the pressures of war, he makes an effective antiwar statement, and he comments on the reversal of a social deviation into the norm. By skillfully employing the stylistic technique of specific, conscious detail selection and utilizing connotative diction, O'Brien thoroughly and convincingly makes each point.
The Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger once said “Perjor est bello timor ipse belli”, which translates to: “the dread of war is worse than war itself”. With this quote, Seneca identifies that war has both its physical and mental tolls on its participants. The psychological and emotional scars of war do much more damage to a soldier than the actual physical battles. Tim O’ Brien repeats this idea many years later in his novel “The Things They Carried”, by describing how emotional burdens outweigh the physical loads that those in war must endure. What keeps them alive is the hope that they may one day return home to their loved ones.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental illness that develops after exposure to an event that is perceived to be life threatening or pose serious bodily injury to self or others (Sherin & Nemeroff, 2011). According
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) develops after a terrifying ordeal that involved physical harm or the threat of physical harm. The person who develops PTSD may have been the one who was harmed or the person may have witnessed a harmful event that happened to loved ones or strangers.
John F. Kennedy once said “Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind”. War runs the danger of destroying a soldier’s mind and body. When a soldier does leave the battlefield he/she still has to carry the burden of war. Servicemen and women have to go on living and hiding the emotional and physical wounds of war. In the short story “The Sniper” author Liam O’ Flaherty includes the element of surprise to real that war not only causes physical risk, but also psychological suffering.
In the The Things They Carried there was a line saying”They carried their reputations.They carried the soldiers greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing.Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to.” That is basically saying that these kids are sent to war by the government basically, and in this specific war there is a lot of fatalities. So sending a person to this war is basically like suicide to them. This quote gives you a basic summarization of the whole book. All of the problems in this is caused by them going to war and either dying, or having the fear of death.
ccording to the 1990 Veterans organization report, one in every three Vietnam veterans that were in heavy combat suffers from post-traumatic stress; this includes thirty-three percent of soldiers who went to Vietnam, or nearly one million troops, who gave into post-traumatic stress. PTSD must have been common in the group of soldiers in Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” due to the amount of burdens each soldier carried. Throughout the story, O’Brien demonstrates theme of psychological, physical and mental burdens carried by every soldier. He emphasizes these burdens by discussing the weight that the soldiers carry; their psychological and mental stress they have to undertake as each of them experience the brutality of the Vietnam War. The physical burden that each soldier carried was a necessity for them due to their emotional burdens that they carried.
George Washington once said “To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace. However, it’s been noted over time that readiness for war doesn’t necessarily equate to a peaceful aftermath especially if those affected are children. Research has shown that, several aversive effects of war may lead to severe physical and psychological effects on people’s childhood. This is why “anyone who wishes to fight must first count the cost,”(Giles 35). When children at a young age are exposed to prolonged and long-term stressors, which may threaten their lives, cause them severe physical injuries or act as an obstacle to them accessing the required social support, it puts them in a stressful and traumatic situation. War exposes
When O’Brien first arrives to Vietnam, the men of the platoon show him how the grief of war can be covered up by humor. As the men were patrolling near a village off the South China Sea they suddenly started to encounter sniper fire. The firefight only lasted a few minutes but Lt. Cross decided to order an airstrike on the village anyways. After the strike was over, the platoon proceeded to the smoldering village to find nothing but “…an old man who lay face up near a pigpen at the center of the village. His right arm was gone. At his face there were already many flies and gnats.”(). To many, this image of a destroyed village and the mutilated old man would cause horror and plight. Instead of that normal reaction, “Dave Jensen went over and shook the old man’s hand. “How-dee-doo,” he said.”(). The other men of the platoon also went up to the dead man’s body and shook his hand while adding a comment. This disturbing response the men have to the dead old man isn’t one of disrespect, it is their coping mechanism for realizing what they just did. Because O’Brien was new to Vietnam he had yet to understand why the men were all doing this. He was awestruck by the actions...
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 Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (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.
Earth is consisted of billions of humans who differentiate emotionally, physically, culturally, and mentally. Humans are characterized by their experiences and not everyone has the same experience. Where we are born, how we are raised, and how we interpret life varies. However, once in every few generations, a stressful and disturbing event happens in a child’s life that could have a great impact on him and his future. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that results from experiencing or witnessing an extremely traumatic or tragic event that extends beyond one’s coping capacity. People with PTSD usually have frightening thoughts or vivid memories or dreams of that event. How a child reacts to a tragic event emotionally and mentally completely depends on the child’s mentality. Some people can look past a traumatic event and live life; others can lead to more problems and may lead a criminal life. Posttraumatic Stress disorder affects mainly children causing a possibility of having a violent life in the future.
Our soldiers not only risked life and limb for our country while serving in the Vietnam War, but they continue to suffer immensely. Americans as well as Vietnamese troops and civilians suffered great losses when it comes to casualties. Witnessing first-hand the pain and death of strangers and allies, isn’t something one is likely to forget. Post-Traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been one of the many repercussions of witnessing these gruesome events (Mental Health America). Veterans, their families, and the government have come together in combat in attempts to address the detrimental effects of PTSD.