The Battle of Mental Illness The battle of mental illness is something that does not cross the mind of many. The unseen fight that someone goes through in their mind could be worse than any physical struggle anyone could face. In A Soldier’s Home, Krebs was facing the challenge of PTSD after coming back from war, while Emily in A Rose for Emily is dealing with the need for power, and possible necrophilia tendencies. These are two completely different internal fights, but both take a toll on their emotional state. In A Soldier’s Home, we follow the journey of a young man named Krebs and his emotional reaction after he returns home from war. Before the war, Krebs was fun and loving, and very much a family guy. He attended a Methodist college …show more content…
The people of the town know there is something different about her. For example, when she goes to buy the rat poison, the towns people believe that she is going to kill herself. Although, throughout the story, there is no mention or evidence to lead us to think that she would commit suicide. The reason behind the thought that she would take her own life would be possible depression. One of the biggest signals of someone being depressed is disconnect from the outside world. Many people, when they are depressed, want distance to just be alone. Sadly, a lot of these people do end up taking their lives. This was the fear for the towns people because Emily had become such a figure for the …show more content…
When it comes to Krebs, the people in the town cannot understand his PTSD. One of the biggest problems that he faces is that the people of the town do not want to listen to his stories. This causes him to be forced to bottle them up, and it makes his depression even worse. With Emily, she does not talk about her illness, because she does not understand it herself. This causes an even bigger problem because the town people have no idea what is going on. Since Emily is so off from the world, this makes the understanding of what she is dealing with even harder. If she was more outspoken with the people of the town, rumors would have not grown about her, and caused even more
Krebs came home two years later than the other veterans in his town. He doesn’t get the welcome home that the other men got. Krebs experiences emotional numbness from both the war and how people treated him when he returned
He wanted to live along without consequences” (2). The war had affected Krebs in ways that he never wanted to experience anything similar to it ever again. Krebs felt the need to talk about his experiences, but in order for anyone to listen at all, “he had to lie and after he had done this twice, he, too, had a reaction against the war and against talking about it” (1). But even after trying to talk about it, Krebs felt to traumatized to want to speak about the war. His inability to express his feelings causes Krebs to hurt others such as his mom unintentionally.
Physical and mental injuries affect a veteran's chance of getting a job drastically. These veterans have serious injuries that they suffered from defending and fighting for our country. Now when they return, they find that their injuries are causing them to be put at a disadvantage in the job market. The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans says that “47,725 veterans are homeless on any given night”. That is around 9% of all homeless people and more than half of that 9% is between 18 and 30(Faq About Homeless Veterans).
In the recent years, the number of mental health professionals providing for the military has dwindled, there is almost no combat-specific psychologists left, and the wait time to be treated for a mental health issue by the Department of Veterans Affairs has drastically increased. Examining MilitaryOneSource and the Department of Veterans Affairs, two of the most highly regarded military health providers, the lack of mental health services for veterans and active duty members has diminished and has resulted in a multitude of veterans going untreated or even ending their own life instead of receiving the help they
In the book Girl, Interrupted, by Susanna Kaysen, one of the biggest focal points is mental illness. Mental illness can be tough to talk about, simply because the phrase “mental illness” encompasses such a wide range of conditions and conjures up images of deranged people, but it is very important, especially in this book. There is a certain stigma that people who are put into mental hospitals because they have medical problems or are insane and a possible danger to society. While this is sometimes true, it is far more common for patients to need help for a disorder, but just don’t know where to go or what to do, and can end up putting themselves or someone else in danger.
A constant watch over mental health issues of all military servicemen and women has gone under the radar in the past few years due to a lack of knowing how unrecognizable the problem just might be. The magnitude of this problem is enormous. A recent report finds that the estimates of PTSD range from 4 to 45 percent for those soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan (Cesur, Sabia & Tekin, 2012). Research suggested that other serious medical issues are likely to accompany the PTSD diagnosis, such as cardiovascular disease, and chronic pain (Frayne, et al, 2010). Compiling mental health issues, physical ailments along with family reintegration can prove overwhelming for a returning veteran.
After a soldier returns home from war different outcomes from their experience will unfold when they begin civilian life. They can either isolate themselves or embrace life. In “Soldier’s Home,” Harold Krebs isolates himself and avoided situations that would make his life more complicated. Harold returned home from WWI and had a difficult time returning to civilian life. He would spend his time “reading on the front porch until he became bored” isolation himself from others (Hemingway).
Krebs life is forever changed. He needs to move on but has a difficult time doing so. He lives in his childhood home when he returns home. Krebs battles a sort of depression, staying in bed often, never going out, and just being detached. At one point when asked by his mother if he loves her he says no.
Helen also asks Krebs if she can be his girl even though he is her brother with a brotherly shrug, Krebs says “Sure.” In his conversation with his sister, Krebs provides quick one words on interest. He states easy answers to easy questions and does not feel sickly afterward. Unfortunately, with his Mother, Krebs’ conversation does not end as simply as Helen’s does. Instead of answering quite direct questions with contrived happy answers, Krebs responds honestly.
One Flew Over the Cuckoos’ Nest Mental patients are ignored in society and are notorious for their own helplessness with their illness. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest written by Ken Kesey talks about constant struggle between what society wants versus what the patients need while constantly clashing with hospital staff. The book also introduces readers to a theme of power and it was seen through the way the staff and outsiders viewed them as patients; the battle of good versus evil. Kesey also uses real events of the U.S and problematic stances to help develop his story, from the unethical human experiments to problems of conformity.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in The Things They Carried During the turbulent times of the Vietnam War, thousands of young men entered the warzone and came face-to-face with unimaginable scenes of death, destruction, and turmoil. While some perished in the dense Asian jungles, others returned to American soil and were forced to confront their lingering combat trauma. Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried provides distinct instances of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and reveals the psychological trauma felt by soldiers in the Vietnam War. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD for short, is the most common mental illness affecting soldiers both on and off the battlefield.
In the short story “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, the main character, Emily Grierson, obviously suffers from an undiagnosed, serious mental health issue. According to several psychologists, Grierson is suffering from Dependent Personality Disorder, also known as DPD. DPD is a personality dysfunction that affects a person’s ability to make decisions independently. It is also identified in people who have an unhealthy fear of abandonment and mistrust. Emily Grierson most likely suffers from this disorder based off of her unhealthy attachment to her father and his untimely death, her extreme lengths to make sure Homer Barron stays with her, and the pervasive need for validity and reassurance in her life.
Krebs the main character has a hard time adapting to society and a lot about him has changed. The military has learned him to not love anyone and he feels that doing anything that potentially has consequences is not worth the risk and that includes social interactions with girls which is demonstrated through the following quote. “When he was in town their appeal to him was not very strong. He did not like them when he saw them in the Greek 's ice cream parlour. He did not want them themselves really.”
Rylie McKean 23 July 2015 Professor Walsh ENG 102 Soldier’s Home is no exemption and numerous titles of Ernest Hemingway's stories that have incongruity. Perusing the title just you would feel that the story will speak the truth about an old trooper experienced the rest of his life in an organization where veterans go to bite the dust. We soon discover that the story has nothing to do with the elderly, or establishments; rather, it recounts the narrative of a young fellow, Harold Krebs, just as of late came back from World War I, who has moved once again into his guardians' home while he makes sense of what he needs to do with whatever remains of his life. But then our initial introduction waits, and in light of current circumstances; regardless
This also informs of the internal conflict of loved ones such as Krebs mother and even returnee soldiers themselves. The use of the theme of conformity by Hemmingway paints a picture of stark differences that bring out conflicts to the central character Krebs. Readers are also informed by the difficulty of adapting to conflicting social norms such as religion and marriage that most people fit into. Krebs truly knows that he has been traumatized by the war, and even the conformity of family and religion cannot seem to understand that the best way for him to conform is taking no responsibilities and consequences such as those of