The Man I Killed By Tim OBrien

To be engaged in war is to be engaged in an armed conflict. Death is an all too ordinary product of war. It is an unsolicited reward for many soldiers that are fighting for their country’s own fictitious freedom. For some of these men, the battlefield is a glimpse into hell, and for others, it is a means to heaven. Many people worry about what happens during war and what will become of their loved ones while they’re fighting, but few realize what happens to those soldiers once they come home. The short stories "Soldier's Home” by Ernest Hemingway and "Speaking of Courage” by Tim O'Brien explore the thematic after effects of war and how it impacts a young person's life. Young people who

People both today and back then have been traumatized by war’s brutal combat, fallen victim to cruel soldiers, and had war cause sorrow and grief to them. Through characters seeing death, characters that are soldiers, and characters that are not in combat, Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See demonstrates that war affects individuals negatively, even if they are extremely

The soldiers that fought for or are fighting for our country are some of the bravest men and women that there have ever been. These men and women put their lives on the line as well as their own mental health for fighting for the people of the United States. The most common mental disorder that Americans hear about veterans having is PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, Louise Erdrich’s “The Red Convertible,” and “Midnight Movie” by Mike Subritzky, the characters all show signs of PTSD. The Vietnam War is a large part of America’s history and therefore is one of the greatest examples of the effects of war, such as PTSD, on a soldier.

Historical facts reveal that veterans struggled with re-integration of life and communities they left behind and understood after the Civil War and other wars that followed. During pre-eras veterans were exposed to traumas that resemble those of the twentieth century e.g. trapped in post-war nightmares, injuries, shell shock, effects of depression, and long-term ramifications of psychological and physical health because of war experience (Martin, 2012, p. 12-15).

War is cruel. The Vietnam War, which lasted for 21 years from 1954 to 1975, was a horrific and tragic event in human history. The Second World War was as frightening and tragic even though it lasted for only 6 years from 1939 to 1945 comparing with the longer-lasting war in Vietnam. During both wars, thousands of millions of soldiers and civilians had been killed. Especially during the Second World War, numerous innocent people were sent into concentration camps, or some places as internment camps for no specific reasons told. Some of these people came out sound after the war, but others were never heard of again. After both wars, people that were alive experienced not only the physical damages, but also the psychic trauma by seeing the

The Vietnam war was one of the most alarming and dangerous wars to fight. Every step in the Vietnam jungle was taken cautiously. The guerrilla warfare used by the Vietcong was frightening to anticipate. The majority of the United States army was only that of young men who had been chosen through the draft. Young men going to school and living a life at home in safety all the sudden having to make an overwhelming transition into a deadly, violent and nearly hopeless battlefield. This was only the beginning of problems for the future vietnam survivors. The violence of the Vietnam War brought upon the recognition of Post Traumatic Stress

There is a deep and direct connection between the war trauma and the working of that individual's society and environment. Returning from war they do not feel like themselves. They feel out of place, as if they do not belong and they need to justify their acts. They try to form bonds together trying to build for themselves inner peace with that they did was right. An individual's world becomes an far more dangerous place everyday. Every sound, every sudden movement, every flash of light, every sudden word becomes a message of doom, like a bullet. When they are faced with events which trigger their danger response they got to their safe place trying to forget their past suffering. “Whenever i walk out the door and enter the crowded world, i can feel my heart race in rapid speed, and my vision will blur with my mind in its heels, and i will find it hard to breathe because what if all those people can see how i feel. It's like a target on my back, who can see me is not up to me and it's frustrating because the un-known in each day is killing me”(BGT, 2013). They walk into the world unknowing of what could happen to trigger them. Their anxiety raises, they cannot face it so some hide from the world in isolation.”The intercom squeaked and said “order”.”mama burger and fries,” Norman Bowker said. “Affirmative, copy clear. No rootie-tootie? “Rootie-tootie?” “ You

Wounds of War: the Psychological Aftermath of Combat in Vietnam by Herbert Hendin and Ann Pollinger Haas was published in 1984, roughly a decade after the end of the Vietnam War. Its purpose is to inform the public about the trauma, treatment, complications, and other perspectives that the Vietnam War veterans went through. Herbert Hendin is a psychiatrist and Ann Haas is a sociologist. Describing that both the combat experiences and the post-war treatment was cruel, Hendin and Haas came to the conclusion that overall, it was the post-war treatment to the veterans of Vietnam was the biggest cause of the number of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder victims. A value of the book is that Hendin is a psychologist who has studied suicide and depression

That is approximately ten thousand more than the 58,195 casualties reported during the Vietnam War. The Gulf War and the Vietnam War have much in common. Many believe that both wars were politically motivated and the trauma, both emotionally and physically that soldiers endured was in a sense, worthless. The real conflict in O’Brien’s story is the one that exists within each soldier. This story not only reflects the author’s way of blending fiction with autobiographical facts, but it also gives readers a glimpse of how the soldiers within a small military unit work together. O’Brien states in his book, “They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. That baggage consists of grief, terror, love, longing – these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had a tangible weight.” (O’Brien) This literary work goes on to tell the reader of all the tangible things the soldiers carried along with the intangible emotional baggage carried by each soldier. The theme of this story demonstrates that there is more to the war than fighting. War is hell, and its morals are corrupt. Some soldiers return from their deployments, and their lives and moral fabric

The seductive allure of war in O’Brien’s novel, “The Things They Carried,” is linked to the tendencies of human nature in men. War acts as a catalyst for many causing them to become more primal versions of themselves or “human killing machines.” O’Brien revisits the idea of man losing himself numerous times adding in subtle variations of his own life experiences and inconstant propensity to make witness to and offer detailed accounts of coping mechanisms and grief in attempt to gain control over the chaos of the war by creating a story of survival. During the war, American soldiers carried patriotic derision on their shoulders, however, after the war, they were exposed to unnecessary psychological effects that in many ways were worse than the war itself. Soldiers during the war felt a strong sense of isolation from their friends, families, and communities back home.

Studies have found that post traumatic stress disorder affects almost 31% of Vietnam veterans. War has a catastrophic impact on people’s health and well-being. Soldiers aren’t only affected physically during war. Many are affected mentally as well. For example, during the war and post war many individuals suffer from what is known as shell shock, which was especially prominent throughout World War 1. Post traumatic stress disorder and shell shock are due to the brain’s failed attempts to cope with their trauma. The novel Slaughterhouse 5, the excerpt from The Yellow Birds, and the short story “Soldier’s Home” all describe the lives of soldiers post war. The repercussions of the traumatic experiences that soldiers survive through during war

When people think of war, there first instinct is to think about the physical pain soldiers have gone through, the physical demand of training before and during. What people miss is the mental trauma that affects soldiers during and after the war. In today’s society it is much more acceptable to speak about mental health issues due to the war and we have established a term for it Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). We have established many options for soldiers and families who are affected by PTSD. The two books that I am analyzing speak about the idea of mental health or war trauma during World War I and World War II, instead of calling it PTSD the authors call is shell shock, which is close to the definition of PTSD. The two books that I am analyzing is Pat Barker 's Regeneration, which is focused on a mental institution and how soldiers deal with shell shock and many other internal struggles. The second is Elie Wiesel’s book Night, which speaks about a family that is taken to a concentration camp and is dealing with the mental trauma that they experience and how they are forced to change the way they think and feel in order to survive. Both touch upon very similar themes when it comes to trauma and survival during and after the war.

The Mentality of War Many people think of ‘war hero’ as a title of honor and glory and therefore perceive war itself as glorious. But, there are dangerous consequences to serving in war, not only physically but mentally. Being in such an environment can be traumatic, and leave permanent effects. War can leave scarring psychological impairments on veterans, causing them to suffer from problems such as personal insecurities, desensitization to violence, and post traumatic stress disorder.

Since the first conflicts thousands of years ago, war has been a constant occurrence in this world. Men have risked their lives to brutally kill an enemy for some justified or unjustified reason. What portion of those men return home whole and sound? How have these men changed? Can they recover? Jim O 'Brien’s “Speaking of Courage” wants readers to pose these questions; arriving at the sad but very well existent conclusion. Through the protagonist’s Paul Berlin, actions and mindset, O 'Brien reveals that in the United States, especially after modern wars such as Vietnam, an unfair view of veterans has emerged. These beliefs do not help them cope with all the horrors they see. In modern times, even if soldiers don’t come home with physical wounds, they are still damaged inside, mentally. As a country we have to change, we must stop being indifferent and help these veterans or else the men who protect us will not be able to protect themselves.

“In modern war... you will die like a dog for no good reason.” - Ernest Hemingway.