In the writings of Ernest Hemingway, Tim O’Brien, and other authors of the era in which World War I was fought, we found “the loss of innocence, idealism, patriotism, the shock of combat, and its aftermath” (Medlicott, Jr.). The loss of these morals contributes to the feelings of abandonment that many military veterans reentering civilian society experience. With the setbacks of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) the men and women who have served in the military face an uncertain future. This will look at the short story Soldier’s Home by Ernest Hemingway using the psychological approach in attempt to call attention to the mental stresses that Hemingway writes about.
A serious mental disorder, called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
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Although the research of this era did not allow for a medical diagnoses of PTSD, there is certainly reason to believe that Hemingway’s description of Krebs and his interactions with his family would lead to this diagnosis in modern times. Harold Krebs has a difficult time acclimating himself back into the society he left to fight in World War I. He doesn’t have a job and doesn’t relate well to his family. These problems likely stem from Krebs’ feelings about his involvement in the war and the difficulty he is having since returning home. In an article analyzing Soldier’s Home, Kim E. Becnel writes that Krebs surely “suffered some degree of trauma” (Becnel). This is the pivotal occurrence that leads to …show more content…
Mr. Davis tries to help us understand that what the men and women of the military experience, “combat or none, is a very, very long period of extended absence from comfort, security, families, and breaks” (Forbes). In war scenarios, there may be car bombs, roadside bombs, suicide bombers, mortars, or in the worst of scenarios, actual fighting. Whatever the case, these men and women are subjected to “months and months of a slow drone and a psychological beating” (Forbes). And then everything is supposed to be fine when they come home. Right? No! These soldiers are excited to be home, at first, to see their families and friends, and go to their favorite hangouts. Then comes the residual stress of combat. There is a harshness during deployment that civilians do not ever experience. This harshness is added to the natural stress of constantly worrying about being attacked, or worse, killed. “You are suspicious, tightly wound, and easily angered.” (Forbes) Sergeant Davis explains that upon returning home, many soldiers don’t “mesh well” with their families (Forbes). The soldier tries to acclimate himself or herself back into the life they left. This is exactly the problems Hemingway wrote about in Soldier’s
James was a Marine right out of his second tour of Iraq, during which he faced a bloody
The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, transports the reader into the minds of veterans of the Vietnam conflict. The Vietnam War dramatically changed Tim O’Brien and his comrades, making their return home a turbulent and difficult transition. The study, titled, The War at Home: Effects of Vietnam-Era Military Service on Post-War Household Stability, uses the draft lottery as a “natural experiment” on the general male population. The purpose of the NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research) study is to determine the psychological effects of the Vietnam War on its veterans. In order to do this, they tested four conditions, marital stability, residential stability, housing tenure, and extended family living. However, it neglects the internal ramifications of war that a soldier grapples with in determining whether they are “normal” in their post-war lives. Thus, effects such as alienation from society, insecurity in their daily lives, and the mental trauma that persist decades after the war are not factored in. After reading the NBER study, it is evident that Tim O’Brien intentionally draws the reader to the post-war psychological effects of Vietnam that may not manifest themselves externally. He does this to highlight that while the Vietnam war is over, the war is still raging in the minds of those involved decades later, and will not dissipate until they can expunge themselves of the guilt and blame they feel from the war, and their actions or inaction therein.
In Hemingway’s short story “Soldier’s Home”, Hemingway introduces us to a young American soldier, that had just arrived home from World War I. Harold Krebs, our main character, did not receive a warm welcome after his arrival, due to coming home a few years later than most soldiers. After arriving home, it becomes clear that World War I has deeply impacted the young man, Krebs is not the same man that headed off to the war. The war had stripped the young man of his coping mechanism, female companionship, and the ability to achieve the typical American life.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), originally associated with combat, has always been around in some shape or form but it was not until 1980 that it was named Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and became an accredited diagnosis (Rothschild). The fact is PTSD is one of many names for an old problem; that war has always had a severe psychological impact on people in immediate and lasting ways. PTSD has a history that is as long and significant as the world’s war history - thousands of years. Although, the diagnosis has not been around for that long, different names and symptoms of PTSD always have been. Some physical symptoms include increased blood pressure, excessive heart rate, rapid breathing, muscle tension, nausea, diarrhea, problems with vision, speech, walking disorders, convulsive vomiting, cardiac palpitations, twitching or spasms, weakness and severe muscular cramps. The individual may also suffer from psychological symptoms, such as violent nightmares, flashbacks, melancholy, disturbed sleep or insomnia, loss of appetite, and anxieties when certain things remind them such as the anniversary date of the event (Peterson, 2009).
“Soldier’s Home” by Ernest Hemingway is about a Methodist College student that goes to war from Kansas. When Krebs comes back from war, he starts a life of lying and deceit that he finds difficult to escape. Krebs continues lying about the past and his present in Hemingway’s “Soldier’s Home.” Hemingway conveys Krebs’ inability to embrace the truth of the past and the present through plot in the exposition, conflict, and climax.
...often times tragic and can ruin the lives of those who fight. The effects of war can last for years, possibly even for the rest of the soldiers life and can also have an effect on those in the lives of the soldier as well. Soldiers carry the memories of things they saw and did during war with them as they try and regain their former lives once the war is over, which is often a difficult task. O’Brien gives his readers some insight into what goes on in the mind of a soldier during combat and long after coming home.
War has a definite effect on the mentality of a soldier, so much so that many result in insanity during or after the leave of combat. Timothy Findley’s The Wars, portrays the “stupidity, futility and the horror of the terrible losses of the First World War, describing war as an image of the worst that can be within a man” (Anne Nothof Interview). Findley portrays mental aspects as well as physical, that lead to Robert Ross’ demises, specifically, the conditions of war, overall aspect of war taking someone’s life and the feeling of loneliness and silence.
Everyone encounters some type of battle or challenge in their lives. Some have to deal with something like passing a class, some with the stress of not knowing when their next meal will be. Some have to cope with the after-effects of the war. All war veterans have to bear the mental weight of the events that occurred while at war, feelings of fear and guilt, and sometimes the thoughts don’t seem to go away. We see this looking through the psychological lens in the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien.
War can be as damaging to the human body as it is to the mind. In Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, this idea that war causes psychological disorders is represented throughout the book through the main character, Paul Baumer. This book follows the lives of young soldiers in World War I. Together, these men create powerful bonds. They go through terrifying experiences that continue to strengthen their bonds, but also destroy their mental state. Through Paul’s eyes, Remarque shows the devastation that war has on the mind.
Tina Chen’s critical essay provides information on how returning soldiers aren’t able to connect to society and the theme of alienation and displacement that O’Brien discussed in his stories. To explain, soldiers returning from war feel alienated because they cannot come to terms with what they saw and what they did in battle. Next, Chen discusses how O’Brien talks about soldiers reminiscing about home instead of focusing in the field and how, when something bad happens, it is because they weren’t focused on the field. Finally, when soldiers returned home they felt alienated from the country and
Tim O’Brien served in the Vietnam War, and his short story “The Things They Carried” presents the effects of the war on its young soldiers. The treatment of veterans after their return also affects them. The Vietnam War was different from other wars, because too many in the U.S. the soldiers did not return as heroes but as cruel, wicked, and drug addicted men. The public directs its distaste towards the war at the soldiers, as if they are to blame. The also Veterans had little support from the government who pulled them away from their families to fight through the draft. Some men were not able to receive the help they needed because the symptoms of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) did not show until a year
...ust deal with similar pains. Through the authors of these stories, we gain a better sense of what soldiers go through and the connection war has on the psyche of these men. While it is true, and known, that the Vietnam War was bloody and many soldiers died in vain, it is often forgotten what occurred to those who returned home. We overlook what became of those men and of the pain they, and their families, were left coping with. Some were left with physical scars, a constant reminder of a horrible time in their lives, while some were left with emotional, and mental, scarring. The universal fact found in all soldiers is the dramatic transformation they all undergo. No longer do any of these men have a chance to create their own identity, or continue with the aspirations they once held as young men. They become, and will forever be, soldiers of the Vietnam War.
The initial reaction I received from reading Soldier's Home, and my feelings about Soldier's Home now are not the same. Initially, I thought Harold Krebs is this soldier who fought for two years, returns home, and is disconnected from society because he is in a childlike state of mind, while everyone else has grown up. I felt that Krebs lost his immature years, late teens to early 20's, because he went from college to the military. I still see him as disconnected from society, because there isn't anyone or anything that can connect him to the simple life that his once before close friends and family are living. He has been through a traumatic experience for the past two years, and he does not have anyone genuinely interested in him enough to take the time to find out what's going on in his mind and heart. Krebs is in a battle after the battle.
The short story “In Another Country” by Earnest Hemingway is a story about the negative effects of war. The story follows an unnamed American officer and his dealings with three other officers, all of whom are wounded in World War I and are recuperating in Milan, Italy. In war, much can be gained such as freedom and peace, however war also causes a plethora of negative consequences. Cultural alienation, loss of physical and emotional identity, and the irony of war technology and uncertainty of life are all serious consequences of war that are clearly shown by Hemingway.
...is story, Hemingway brings the readers back the war and see what it caused to human as well as shows that how the war can change a man's life forever. We think that just people who have been exposed to the war can deeply understand the unfortunates, tolls, and devastates of the war. He also shared and deeply sympathized sorrows of who took part in the war; the soldiers because they were not only put aside the combat, the war also keeps them away from community; people hated them as known they are officers and often shouted " down with officers" as they passing. We have found any blue and mournful tone in this story but we feel something bitter, a bitter sarcasm. As the war passing, the soldiers would not themselves any more, they became another ones; hunting hawks, emotionless. They lost everything that a normal man can have in the life. the war rob all they have.