War is a tragic event, and is often regarded as the symbol of pain, suffering, injuries, and death. Words cannot describe the intensiveness and the pain people go through during these devastating times. War is about the experiences people have on the battlefield, as well the suffering of innocent civilians. It damages the lives of many individuals both physically and mentally. Unfortunately, the people directly partaking in military actions are not the only ones who suffer; their families often go through just as much emotional pain on the bloody journey to peace. Even years later, many survivors are haunted by the feeling of guilt and the burden of taking another human’s life. In a short story “Stop the Sun,” by Gary Paulsen, a thirteen-year old boy named Terry, whose father has a psychological disorder, known as the Vietnam Syndrome, wants to know why his father acts weirdly in some situations. Throughout the story, Terry understands that words often can not reflect people’s experiences. His understanding and maturity helps him learn to accept people even if they have severe disorders. The theme of the …show more content…
After Terry’s father tells him what caused his disorder, and that he is the only one alive out of fifty-four of his comrades, Terry begins to act tolerantly towards his father’s behavior. The text states, “He would try hard from now on, and he would not be embarrassed when his father’s eyes went away.”After finding out what actually caused his father to act the way he does, Terry begins to understand that there are things he will never understand since they are gained by going through traumatic experiences; Terry learns to tolerate things that he does not understand. His understanding in this case is crucial, as it helps Terry become a tolerant individual who is not ashamed and embarrassed of his
In the aftermath of a comparatively minor misfortune, all parties concerned seem to be eager to direct the blame to someone or something else. It seems so easy to pin down one specific mistake that caused everything else to go wrong in an everyday situation. However, war is a vastly different story. War is ambiguous, an enormous and intangible event, and it cannot simply be blamed for the resulting deaths for which it is indirectly responsible. Tim O’Brien’s story, “In the Field,” illustrates whom the soldiers turn to with the massive burden of responsibility for a tragedy. The horrible circumstances of war transform all involved and tinge them with an absurd feeling of personal responsibility as they struggle to cope.
War has been a consistent piece of mankind 's history. It has significantly influenced the lives of individuals around the globe. The impacts are amazingly adverse. In the novel, “The Wars,” by Timothy Findley, Soldiers must shoulder compelling weight on the warzone. Such weight is both family and the country weight. Many individuals look at soldiers for hop and therefore, adding load to them. Those that cannot rationally beat these difficulties may create Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Tragically, some resort to suicide to get away from their insecurities. Troops, notwithstanding, are not by any means the only ones influenced by wars; relatives likewise encounter mental hardships when their friends and family are sent to war. Timothy Findley
There you stand over the body of a fallen friend, a brother or sister in arms. You are asking yourself why them, why not you? What could have I done to save them? That is when you wake up, sweating, panting. It was just a night terror, yet it feels the same as the day they died, even though it has been ten years. This is just one of the many emotional scars soldiers of war face. Though why do we go to war when this is the cost? For many it is because they are unaware of the psychological cost of war, they are only aware of the monetary cost. Tim O 'Brien addresses the true cost of war in The Things They Carried. O 'Brien suggests that psychological trauma caused by war impedes daily life in young Americans drafted into the Vietnam war. He does
War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, written by the talented author Chris Hedges, gives us provoking thoughts that are somewhat painful to read but at the same time are quite personal confessions. Chris Hedges, a talented journalist to say the least, brings nearly 15 years of being a foreign correspondent to this book and subjectively concludes how all of his world experiences tie together. Throughout his book, he unifies themes present in all wars he experienced first hand. The most important themes I was able to draw from this book were, war skews reality, dominates culture, seduces society with its heroic attributes, distorts memory, and supports a cause, and allures us by a constant battle between death and love.
What is war really like all together? What makes war so horrifying? The horror of war is throughout All Quiet on the Western Front. For example Albert says the war has ruined them as young people and Paul agrees. “Albert expresses it: "The war has ruined us for everything." He is right. We are not youth any longer. We don't want to take the world by storm. We are fleeing. We fly from ourselves. From our life. We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces. The first bomb, the first explosion, burst in our hearts. We are cut off from activity, from striving, from progress. We believe in such things no longer, we believe in the war.” (Remarque, Chapter 5). The way the war has affected each soldier has changed them forever. The boys who were once school boys will never be the same.
Have you ever felt empathy for someone? Some stories have empathy in them just so the reader is more connected to the story. It’s like having the reader stand in the character’s shoes. In “Stop The Sun”, Gary Paulsen uses many tricks to create empathy for the characters in his story. The story is about Terry and his father's posttraumatic stress disorder from the Vietnam War. The trauma that his father has makes Terry feel embarrassed, distant, and wanting to avoid him at all costs. Terry wants to know more about his father’s experience so he can understand the reason behind this. When Terry brings up the word Vietnam to his father, he takes the reader through an emotional roller coaster as he explains how traumatizing it is to him. Although
From the Civil War, to World War I, to the Vietnam War, humankind’s violent tendencies have oft resulted in the loss of an extreme amount of life; the Civil War resulted in an estimated 620,000 deaths, World War I with at least two million, and the Vietnam War with a rough, dastardly amount of 3.1 million. War had - and still has - an effect on everyone whom witnesses its reign of terror.
Fighting the Vietnam War dramatically changed the lives of everyone even remotely involved, especially the brave individuals actually fighting amidst the terror. One of the first things concerned when reading these war stories was the detail given in each case. Quotes and other specific pieces of information are given in each occurrence yet these stories were collected in 1981, over ten years following the brutal war. This definitely shows the magnitude of the war’s impact on these servicemen. These men, along with every other individual involved, went through a dramatic experience that will forever haunt their lives. Their minds are filled with scenes of exploding buildings, rape, cold-blooded killing, and bodies that resemble Swiss cheese.
It is evident that the occurrence of war throughout history has made a lasting impression on soldiers and civilians alike. This has been expressed over the years through different works of literature. The cost of war to the individual is illustrated in “The Red Convertible” by Louise Erdrich, “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, and “The Shawl” by Cynthia Ozick because each story shows some element of mental, emotional, and physical toll.
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.
During the Vietnam War, many types of works were created to express society's opinions on the war. “Fortunate Son,” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, served as a powerful anti-war song that demonstrated society’s bitterness toward the violence of the war. The song makes a clear distinction between the “fortunate sons” that would never have to serve in the war and the “unfortunate sons” that would be drafted into the war (Shmoop Editorial Team). The novel, “Paco’s Story” by Larry Heinemann deals with the emotional trauma of returning back to normal life after witnessing so many deaths in war. Paco, the main character, survived the war, but he had to watch as the people around him were killed (Lindsay).
In the story “Home Soil” by Irene Zabytko, the reader is enlightened about a boy who was mentally and emotionally drained from the horrifying experiences of war. The father in the story knows exactly what the boy is going through, but he cannot help him, because everyone encounters his or her own recollection of war. “When their faces are contorted from sucking the cigarette, there is an unmistakable shadow of vulnerability and fear of living. That gesture and stance are more eloquent than the blood and guts war stories men spew over their beers” (Zabytko 492). The father, as a young man, was forced to reenact some of the same obligations, yet the father has learne...
There has never been a war where no one was killed. From the beginning, man has always been engaged in hostilities. Suffering and losses become a daily part of life in the front lines. Soldiers are reduced to expendable objects and losing dignity is present in every soul. There are no substitutes to the pains that war creates. How does one comprehend the horrors of war? Is this madness or purification? A glorious enterprise?
War is a machine that extracts young men and women from reality. It twists their morals until they do not know what is right or wrong. This level of dehumanization and objectification is clearly argued in Ron Kovic’s Born on the Fourth of July: “He had never been anything but a thing to them, a thing to put a uniform on and train to kill, a young thing to run through the meat-grinder, a cheap small nothing thing to make mincemeat out of” (165). War is the “meat-grinder.” Soldiers only matter because they can kill. War tears apart the people fighting it. Coming out of the war Kovic does not know what to do. He is lost. This aimless feeling is similar to the experiences of Jake and the Gang in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. The protagonist, Jake Barnes, and his entourage wander the streets of Paris and Madrid with no purpose. After war, the real w...