A Look at Ernest Hemingway’s “Soldier’s Home” Compared to WWI and Shell Shock

Christopher Hardy English 11 T.Wecht December 23, 2009 No family unit of measure ment for a Soldier World struggle One (WWI) was arguably the some costly conflict in human history. With e trulywhere unrivaled third of men returning home with weighty affable ailments, this war had make dogged subsequently the truce pact (World War I Document Archive 18). This war lasted salutary past the signing of the tr expecty and went on to spark the steady d take in of the Second World War in 1939. Veterans were plagued with sickness prospicient aft(prenominal) the actions of the burn start wore off and long after the guns fell silent, and to this sidereal day photographs of the trenches s terminate chills down the spine of any(prenominal) man. WWI conjures up images of a no mans land strewn with dead bodies; their faces c at oneness timeal with primitive gaseous state masks. It was single of the sole(prenominal) conflicts w here the tactics failed to do cumentation up with technology and, as a go forth, had a withering erect on human deportment. The elements of WWI including chemic substance warf ar and charge Traumatic Stress Disorder (posttraumatic focus disorder) be illustrated in Ernest Heming charges Soldiers Home. Soldiers were undetermined too much during the war, only chemical weapons were or so carely the most horrifying and remembered. contempt the Hague Convention of 1907, which forbade the apply of poison or poisonous weapons, the French were the first to violate this Convention with the wide spread physical exertion of tear gas to s much up foe defenses (Wilmot 35). However, this a plainly lots left French troops sense the make because they were ordered to charge to quickly for the tear gas to dissipate. The Germans responded with complete deployment of chemical war agents in the Second fight of Ypres, April 22, 1915; here the Germans attacked French, Canadian and Algerian troops with chlo rine gas. However, some(prenominal) sides ! experient difficulty when deciding how to use chemical agents and often gassed an enemy coiffure with issue an advance to exploit weakness for apprehension of drunkenness their own men. This massive use of chemical agents could non be kept up with kayoed assistance from the home fronts mogul to produce. F performeries that had previously been producing civilian products along the lines of industrial cleaners or wood stains were converted to produce deadly chemical agents. As a result, more than than 124,000 tons of gas were produced by the end of WWI. authoritative figures claim active 1,176,500 non-fatal casualties and 85,000 fatalities caused by chemical warf be agents during the programme of the war (Wilmot 57). chemical substance weapons were relativity in the altogether to the battle th ingester and were not in full understood by the generals of each side. This resulted in primitive and often d fretfulnessous use of chemical weapons. They were released in severa l different modal values, with the most common being matte gas canisters opened from atomic number 53 trench and blown by the wind to another. They were overly besotted into shells that were bombarded upon the enemy. The issue with both study methods of distribution was that it was extremely aquiline on the wind, if the wind were to bring up for steady a few minutes the gas would be upon the friendly trenches create massive friendly fire damage. When a man breathe in the gasses in that location was a considerable tot of reactions he could have, because gener everyy each person had meagrely unparalleled reflexes. The most common and widespread affect of chemical agents was the virulent of the skin as though it was on fire. Chemical agents are generally irritants, acidic substances on the skin; that would eat off at any loose soft wander and last work its way into the clothing of a spend. once inhaled the chemical would wreak havoc on the victims entire physio logical being. When in the lungs the agent would caus! e massive bleeding and surmount the lungs world power to accept oxygen. This bleeding caused the victim to drown in his own blood. If the gas managed to infiltrate a mans stomach it would eat forward at the inner lining until the contents spilled out into the mans system cavity, resulting in a real painful death. ironically the primary(prenominal) seismic disturbance of chemical weapons was not the men they killed but the men they spared. foreign bullet wounds that healed, departure a person feeling relatively the aforesaid(prenominal), chemical weapons left long long-wearing cosmetic effects on its victims. Soldiers who were exposed suffered grizzly destroy on every body part that was exposed leaving the victim looking almost sub-human for his entire life. Indeed the outward-bound effects of the gas were extremely present, however the larger yield of the gas attacks were intellectual. This mental consequence, often referred to as Shell lash by the men in the trench es, is known today as posttraumatic nisus disorder. posttraumatic stress disorder in WWI was a direct result of the aggravated fighting and horrid death that the average soldier was exposed to on a regular basis. Symptoms often did not shew until weeks or sometimes months after the event and could be trigged by seemingly benign occurrences. Mustard gas with its signature breeze yellow color, for instance, would emotionally scar the troops, prompting men to endure over the gassing upon walking into a yellow room. WWI veterans often report sleep disorders and night horrors that persisted until the end of their lives. This drove some(prenominal) veterans to alcohol, tobacco, and medicine abuse to cope with the disorder (Newton 2). Upon having an attack posttraumatic stress disorder patients would handclasp violently and shriek in horror, to people, or of things that were not thither. a great deal they became physically rapacious towards others and in extreme cases even kil l. posttraumatic stress disorder patients are often m! iserable, and find it hard to enjoy the things in life they once did. They carry on through life leading an population that is without joy, patients say they are empty and clear to grief. Many posttraumatic stress disorder patients exhibit sudden and unexplained outbursts of anger and bitterness, often come with by violent mood swings. This sunk the social lives of those discompose by posttraumatic stress disorder, often spiraling them into a deeper depression, resulting in a domino effect making them more depressed. Finally, because PTSD patients have had their lives changed so drastically they believe zilch will be the uniform (Newton 3). This presents a problem when the PTSD patient is chuck back into an unchanged human being. If the patient is exposed to the same conditions as before the event took place it run lows very confusing and often painful, prompting a desperate past-lust. It in like manner makes them feel as if they stand out, being so fiercely changed in soundings that totally unchanged. PTSD was a major actor in WWI and in the years following the war. Although it was not amply understood PTSD became fully associated with WWI. Even writers like Ernest Hemingway suffered from PTSD and immortalized their feelings in their literature. Ernest Hemingways Soldiers Home is a double to his own undertake outs during WWI and his suffering of PTSD as a result. The main character, Krebs fought in major battles during the American involvement in WWI, during which chemical weapons were wide used. This use of chemical weapons prompted early symptoms of PTSD in Krebs and resulted in his ultimate full affliction with the malady. Krebs situation is not extremely typical; most men returned home and were greeted with a heros welcome. They were even given jobs and overall prove a position in society. However, Krebs returns from the war late, being attached to an American personnel that was latent in Europe for some time after the war. When he returns he sees that his fellow men at accouterment! s have lay down a niche for themselves as contribute members of the community. However, Harold, cannot do this; instead, he plays pool, practice[s] on his clarinet, stroll[s] down town, read[s], and [goes] to bed every day since he has returned from war (Hemingway 2). This unwillingness to break out of routine is a classic symptom of PTSD. He is unable to find gladness in simple things; even in things he found happiness in before the war. He is not intimately excited and cannot even find pauperization to talk to the women in town. Harolds experiences in Europe changed him irrevocably, and this change is dramatically played out against the backdrop of a town where nada has changed for years, his father place his same car in the same place he did before the war, and the girls walking down the highroad look like the same girls with whom Harold went to school.

People want Harold to confirm his existence by talking about the glories of the war, but the experience wasnt glorious for him; he is acutely aware that he was badly, sickeningly frightened all the time, accenting his early symptoms of PTSD. It is not until his mother confronts him about his future that he realizes that he cannot encompass to live the way he is living. Over breakfast, his mother pressures him to go away a job by arguing that There are no idle hands in [Gods] Kingdom, Harold replies, Im not in His Kingdom and indeed he is not (Hemingway 4). The world he discovered during WWI had no God. His mother, in despair, asks whether he loves her, and Harold responds quite a truthfully that he does not. His entire worldview has been skewed by his traumatic experiences in the ! war, and the ability to genuinely love requires an emotional labyrinthine sense he lost during the war. His mother does not transform this, because she cannot separate with his experiences. The story ends with Krebs actively attempting to overcome his PTSD and excogitate a better life for himself. Hemingways Soldiers Home all the way accents chemical warfares causing of PTSD and indeed PTSD as a whole. Krebs will be forever changed by what he saw and despite his efforts he may never survive fully reassimilated into society. He will have to deal with his illness every day for the rest of his life. This condition is seen today, in Vietnam veterans who were set poorly when they returned home and were not allowed to assimilate, and even in Iraqi war veterans who did not have loving families to greet them. PTSD is a staple of war; it is an unavoidable side effect of human conflict. Whether it is called shell shock, battle madness, or PTSD it will be a constant of war. body po litic have extremely predictable tendencies and so long as there are two nations on the earth there will be war, there will be modern deadly weapons, and there will be stories like the one told about Harold Krebs. Works Cited Hemingway Ernest. Soldiers Home. Bedford Introduction to Literature. 6th ed. Newton David. ptyalize! diseases and disorders, injuries and infections. Detroit, Mich: U X L, 1999. Print. NIMH. NIMH. Web. 22 Dec. 2009. . Willmott, H. P. The American inheritance score of World War 1. Vol. Vol. 1. New York, New York: American Heritage Co., 1964. Print. World WarI Document Archive. Web. 20 Dec. 2009. . If you want to protrude a full essay, order it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

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