Healing the Emotional Scars of Antwoine Fisher

War changes the lives of each and every soldier who participates. It continues to change the way they experience events and the way their perception of the simplest things. Many veterans do not realize what truly happened until much later in life, if at all. Many live in denial of the truth, consciously or subconsciously, and many continuously remember their darkest moments. This is the case in “Salem”, written by Robert Olen Butler. The short story is about a man, late in life, recalling a past event from the Vietnam War. He remembers a man, alone in a clearing, whose life he ended. He starts to understand his actions and their true outcomes. The author uses symbolism, setting, and character to enhance the idea that one should always be aware of how his/her actions affect others.

     Antwone Fisher grows up living in a foster home where he is beaten, mentally and sexually abused. After spending time in an orphanage he doesn’t know what to do with his life. After thinking about it he decides to join the Navy. The movie picks up with Antwone as a young sailor who has a problem controlling his anger. Sent to a psychiatrist (played by Denzel Washington) he slowly begins opening up, learning to confront the past that has fostered his long-standing rage. Washington's psychiatrist becomes Antwone's substitute father figure, the person who teaches

Throughout the story of this one deployment, there are parts where the author talks about his early life as well as some parts of his earlier days in the Army. The author puts these Stories in to the book in an intriguing way to help explain why and how the author ended up where he did.

Daly Walker has written a story about a doctor who is haunted by the shame and guilt he carries with him from the atrocious acts he committed while serving in the army; acts so horrible that he cannot speak of them. The story depends on his use of three literary elements: setting, plot and symbolism.

Antwone Fisher was an individual that endured so many things. He faced a lot of challenges that may have seemed impossible to recover from. This story was an example of the many things that some children may experience. Antwone was not raised in an upper crust home. He did not grow up in a home in which his mother and father was present. Instead of having positive role models, he had to live with individuals that were abusive to him. When observing Antwone’s personality, one may refer to two different theorists such as Bandura and Rogers.

In life, some have friends and family who remain important even when the relationship ends in pain. Some learn in life that not everyone is honest or loyal and some learn to overcome toxic things and how to see the people who care, love and have our back. There's a struggle seen in Ship Breaker written by Paolo Bacigalupi. The novel is set in America’s coast region in a post- apocalyptic future and is written in the third person but the readers also see part of Nailers perspective. Nailer is a teenage boy that works for the light crew looking for copper wiring but is also struggling with an abusive relationship at home with his father. In the novel we see how Nailer grows from the abuse at home and finds a new family with loyalty and no blood bond, blood does not define family. Nailer finds friends that love and care for him. Bacigalupi’s central message about loyalty is highlighted in the contrast between the abusive, destructive relationship Nailer experiences with his father and the love and trust he experiences with his friends.

Billy Budd sat silently in the hard wooden chair as the ship creaked back and forth. He had been sitting there for what seemed like an eternity. No one understood that all of it was an accident, that he had just hit the man out of anger, and that it had mistakenly become the death blow. Drifting back and forth from daydreams, Billy contemplated his whole life with an emotionless expression painted on his face. The chaplain slowly peeked in from behind the worn door. Through the dim and dreary light of the faint candle, he strained to make out a solemn figure staring off into the endless sea. As the chaplain closed the door with a gentle squeak and carefully made his way to Billy, the weary sailor did not even breath.

Terry’s father and George Robinson share many similar astonishing experiences and traits. Conspicuously, they both fought in the Vietnam War; however, as a consequence, both men, whether physically or mentally, were injured. Furthermore, the both of them have mentioned or implied that they found it difficult to watch others die, especially their comrades. Moreover, Terry’s father and Robinson both survived the war, although they consider themselves as changed men because of the many ghastly situations they had lived through. Similarly, both veterans had no desire to discuss their experiences with their loved ones, finding it too difficult to do so. As Terry’s father explained it, their memories

Nick is a World War I veteran who, as many veterans, suffers from emotional trauma that his experiences from the war left him with. Multiple scenes throughout the story, Big Two Hearted River, relates to Nick, the main character’s, journey toward recovery. Nick describes his surroundings in way that parallels to his own experiences and current voyage in respect to his revival.. He takes a calming adventure saturated with calming natural paths over hills, through woodland, and along a river to find peace with himself and to return to his prewar state of mind.

Growing up in the 1950’s when segregation was at its peak, he never once allowed the influences from his peers persuade him into the world of discrimination. When Robert had finished High School he had decided to join the military, and participate in the Vietnam War. Robert had gone to war in 1967 and served for nineteen excruciating months. Due to the intensity of the war Robert had suffered from PTSD and caused him to become an alcoholic for many years. Eventually, Robert had received help and has not drunk alcohol since 1987.

The focus of this essay will be to analyze Nick's transition as he moves from mental isolation, to physical isolation, to maturation and self-discovery.

The movie Antwone Fisher (2002) illustrates the main character as a 24-year-old African American male from Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Fisher is physically in good condition yet he seems mentally and emotionally troubled. He is often distant amongst his peers, quick-tempered, violent and defensive. He is a six-year Navy officer who has been involved in several fights with his shipmates. Due to frequent violent conflicts, Antwone was demoted to seaman and required to attend three counseling sessions with the U.S. Navy psychiatrist, Dr. Jerome Davenport. During the first session, Antwone mentioned that he was “from under a rock” and that he had no family (Antwone Fisher, 2002). It was revealed that Mr. Fisher’s experienced a distressing childhood

After the Civil War, the American Southerners had a strong trauma that could not be forgotten. Considering that William Faulkner was also one of these Southerners, approaching to his texts through a psychoanalytic lens would be a meaningful work. In fact, Faulkner is one of the rare writers who faced Southern racial ‘taboo’: the miscegenation. In addition, a Southern Renaissance that what Faulkner does with the South through his novels are very similar with what Freud did with the European civilization after the World War I in his work about ‘psychoanalytic mourning’ (Lee 229). Actually, Faulkner went through the World War I just like Freud did and he is one of the “Lost Generations”: a group of writers who were strongly affected by the inhumanity of war. Thus, this essay will focus on analyzing Faulkner’s “The Bear” in psychoanalytical view.

In J.D. Salinger’s short story, “A Perfect Day for Bananafish”, readers observe the contrast of main character Seymour Glass’s PTSD with his wife’s materialistic ways. Seymour’s PTSD makes him appear to return back to childlike ways as he struggles to morph back into the adult world of America in 1948. Readers see this as Seymour has better communication with the children of the hotel he’s staying at than with his in-laws, wife, and other adults. Other adults, like his wife and mother-in-law, view him as unhinged and possibly scary. On the other hand, children view him as funny and delightful. This contrast of perspectives helps to carry the theme of lost innocence in a world of greed and failed communication.

“Scars have the strange power to remind us that our past is real.” Scars allow us to relive our past and to reflect upon ourselves. At times we find ourselves running from the past as an attempt to forget it. Despite our attempts to leave these memories behind, our scars remain as a reminder of our story. It’s like picking on scars, trying to make them disappear, but in fact, the more we pick at them the more likely they become permanent, a constant reminder. We stop ourselves from healing and confronting the past.