Plato, And Oliver Stone's Loss Of Innocence In Platoon

The rambunctious behavior of the soldier’s triumphant victory is a strong message visually for the viewer. These soldiers struggle to find their identity and once the war ends, the identity they’ve build at war vanishes, (McCutcheon, 2007). As a result, they essentially lose a part of them selves, (McCutcheon, 2007). When they return home, many soldiers struggle with psychological issues that prevent them from resuming their once regular lives, (McCutcheon, 2007). The images of soldiers celebrating at the end of war give the viewer a taste of this problem. This also allows the viewer insight to the deeper issues surrounding an American soldier’s mental stability and mentality. Through this image, along with many others throughout the film, the viewer is able to dig deeper and truly analyze what they are seeing.

War is something that can change the very principles of a person, it can change a person and leave multiple effects that can last for their entire life. The sniper is fighting in a civil war where friends and family can turn into enemies at a moment's notice. The fight is between the Republicans and the Free Staters, the protagonist is a sniper for the Republicans. Throughout the story, we go into the state of mind of the main character and learn some ramifications that he gained in the war. The text, “The Sniper” by Liam O’Flaherty shows us the physical and psychological results of war, that happens to people.

The thought of killing or being killed impact soldiers at all times. PTSD are the recurrent flashbacks from enduring service. Even firecrackers may trigger false indications of how a situation is being interpreted such as being snipers; proving the effects of PTSD after war. In Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder for Dummies, Goulston states that more than 60 percent of Vietnam combat veterans with PTSD have been in trouble with the law. Within the 60 percent or more of Vietnam veterans with PTSD, at one point in their lives acted against the law. This disorder acts as an influencer for both adult and juvenile crime steering people into bad directions (Goulston 19). Goulston shows that Vietnam veterans that suffer from PTSD are at risk of doing unlawful actions. Therefore, has a strong effect on these soldiers, and unfortunately the actions of these veterans are not for the greater good most of the time after returning home. War gives a rough experience to many veterans. This disorder steers many into the wrong path due to these terrible experiences. In the book The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien describes the brain of a soldier and how war clouds the mind. “In war you lose your sense of the definite, hence your sense of truth itself, and therefore it’s safe to say that in a true war story nothing is ever absolutely true” (O’Brien 78). This quote demonstrates

War can destroy a man both in body and mind for the rest of his life. In “The Sniper,” Liam O’Flaherty suggests the horror of war not only by presenting its physical dangers, but also by showing its psychological effects. We are left to wonder which has the longer lasting effect—the visible physical scars or the ones on the inside?

His replica of the small details in his life, assist to highlight the tremendous changes he undergoes to become a child soldier. Here the detailed descriptions of loading the guns, attacking others, and the unending cycle of killing and death are interspersed with bland scenarios about his internal musings. Instead of being able to consider his ambitions of performing in a local talent quest, he is traumatized by the nightmares or flashbacks of being a ‘green snake’, the most effective killing machine he once was.

Individuals everywhere grimace at war. Images of the strike of the gun, the burst of the bombs, and the clash of the soldiers all elicit a wince and a shiver. Moviegoers close their eyes during gory battle scenes and open them again only once the whine of the bullets stops rattling in their ears. War is hell, as the common aphorism goes, and the pain of war is equally hellish. Most individuals naturally accept this conclusion despite never experiencing war themselves. Without enduring the actual pain of war injuries, individuals still argue the importance war and its miseries. Individuals rely on media and entertainment for education about the suffering and evils of war. Writers provide an acute sense of a soldier’s physical and mental

Every veteran of war you see went through something that changed them, either from their own experience or from their “brother’s” and in the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien it shows exactly what I’m talking about. While using the psychological lens, specifically, Maslow’s Hierarchical Theory of Human Needs and Holmes-Rahe Stress Scale, the reader can see in chapters “On The Rainy River,” “The Man I Killed,” and “Field Trip” that Tim O’Brien is emotionally unstable due experiencing the trauma of war.

Timothy Findley’s The Wars portrays the effects of war on soldiers in battle, as well as the members of family and friends that suffer from loss and insanity. As each character over the progression of the story is exposed to change, the character’s ability to adapt has a significant correlation with their survival, those that can quickly adapt to survive can manage to get by. Soldiers must be able to suppress the extreme stress on the battlefield. Those that cannot overcome these challenges do not survive in war. Murder is quickly pushed out of a soldiers mind, killing others in effort to protect their own life or the life of others around them. Findley demonstrates how war can negatively alter a person’s behaviour. This is seen through

At the time, many that were drafted into the war didn’t know what they were fighting for and why they were there. Not only is war physically exhausting, but many soldiers suffered from psychotic breaks and from PTSD. A method to interpret Tim O'Brien's experience in war is to look at his mental state through Psychoanalytical Criticism.

War is then revealed as destructive to a soldier’s psychology. Soldier may often do anything to keep sanity amidst a never ending war. Soldiers will block out feelings in order to cope. Dismissal of emotional reaction and the dehumanization of soldiers

​For many years war has been a huge part of history. Thousands of people go to war for their country and come back physically fine. But what people usually do not notice is the emotional distress and burden that the veterans come back with on their back. That is what drives the purpose of the book in “The things they carried”. Tim O’Brien wrote this book in way that shows how war can be part of the soldier for the rest of their life. Coming home veterans have to deal with individual sufferings, but the emotional baggage the soldiers bring also effect the people around them. The characters in the book the “The things they carried” portray this very well.

The effects of this issue are further reflected upon in Tim O’Brien’s war story The Things They Carried, where Vietnam War era veteran O’Brien narrates his fictional account of the war and its effects on its combatants as a way to cope with the inflicted grief and regret of battle. Throughout the story and through other veterans’ accounts, it is evident how storytelling can be an effective medium to assuage these mental effects of war on a veteran. Most prominently, war’s effects on soldiers are mainly physical with disabilities causing a lasting effect on those who once fought and now wish to adapt to civilian life. However, the idea of not being able to adapt completely lies with the lesser known effects of war inflicted disabilities, with PTSD mentally scarring soldiers for periods of their life and depression following suit. Like how hospitals and bandages heal bullet wounds, O’Brien proves how writing and storytelling serve as remedies to patch up the mental wounds caused by war.

The detrimental effects of war on soldiers coming home has been an issue since the beginning of war itself. It has been known by many names; shell shock during WWI, battle fatigue during WWII, and PTSD in modern times. The effects of war is an age old issue addressed in The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. O’Brien uses women as a literary element by portraying women as fantasized for their innocence at first, but are really a metaphor to explain the changes that soldiers experience as a result of war, all to explore the damaging effects that war and PTSD have on the men fighting it.

The movie hurt locker written by Mark Boal and directed by Kathryn Bigelow. It displays the war in middle east vividly. The story began when the bomb tech team leader Sergeant Thompson was killed in an accident. Sergeant James was there to replaced him and the movie was reflecting on various conflicts that the tech team has encountered. Although hurt locker alludes to the typical hollywood heroism and patriotism, in fact, it actually suggested how war is terrible and how it destroy people by delivering 3 sub ideas- how weak and small a person’s life is, the misunderstanding between 2 cultures, and the conflict between responsibility and “addiction”.

The 1986 Oscar winning film Platoon (Stone) is a classic example of this genre and why it is popular. Platoon is a fictional work that follows Chris Taylor, a young American who gives up college and volunteers for combat duty in Vietnam. Following Taylor over a year’s time in Vietnam, the film’s main focus is on his life during the war, and the mortality issues he must find a way to deal with. Platoon also includes all four of the narrative elements necessary to fit into this genre.