Human Psychology and the War Years, Essay Example

Violent situations like the war years continue to remain noted as a particularly traumatic incident that often identifies well with the condition by which humans tend to run away from the situation while they are being highly accustomed to remain within its grasps. Nevertheless, there is nothing better in knowing what war actually is about but through the eyes of those who have actually experienced the situation. Both Tim O’Brien and Brian Turner had their own ways of defining their experiences through expressive poems. In the discussion as follows, a distinct understanding on how human psychology is redefined under the clauses of what defines war is to be given attention to.

Tim O’Brien takes a more sentimental approach towards determining what keeps soldiers pursuing the goal of survival while at war. The desire of being a hero was a distinct theme in the poem of O’Brien. He argues that the reason behind their being fully convinced into joining the army was the fact that they were to be defined as heroes, ready to die for those who they love and value. Considerably, this is the same reason why they tend to survive. Separating the first days in the battle field with that of the years that came after, O’Brien points out how devastating the change of situation becomes.  With high hopes in the beginning, defined by psychological sense of positive satisfaction, the recruited armies seem to have that ‘ecstasy’ of winning like as a team.

However, as the days in the camp passes by, the soldiers begin to see what they are supposed to live with, or at least survive with. Seeing the situation of the other soldiers who went ahead from them, O’Brien describes them to have lost their spirit and their instance of desire to become more acquainted with the primary desire of winning for the sake of reaching that one goal they hope to attain. Relatively, it could be understood that these older soldiers have lost track of the reason behind their existence in the camp. Losing such meaning pushes them to desire to survive for themselves; it is as if they have been subjected to a retched life that they could not run away from nor in anyway neglect.

To survive, these soldiers then do what they could to hold on to things that they actually feel specifically attached to. These things remind them of the real meaning of their lives, of who they really are and of what they stand for as they remain in the camp as soldiers not as fighters for their nations but as fighters for their life and the people they care about. As noted in the story, most of the things that they carried with them symbolized that things they cared for, matters that they considered important to retaining their personal meaning and purpose in life.

In a way, this part of O’Brien’s written work specifically identifies well with the condition of how the psychology of attachment works to retain the desire to survive towards a better life than the one that one experiences at present. Relatively, this condition of psychological distinction of human basics identifies with what makes soldiers desire to survive amidst the supposedly desperate situations that they are involved in. The decision to either fight or flight becomes evidently important in determining whether or not a soldier would actually survive in the battle field. This is why there are the soldiers who remain alive, but without the spirit of living, and there are those who do desire to live but are not motivated enough to remain in the state of being alive. True to its sense, the picture of losing one’s desire to live is a terminal case among soldiers. This is what O’Brien was trying to describe in his writing. He wants to identify the consideration over the fact that soldiers often find it hard to determine the real meaning of their mission every now and again. This especially occurs during the high time of losing one’s control over his being especially at the onset of seeing someone die in front of them. The psychological effect of seeing these situations happen specifically pushes one to develop fear or simply the desire to run away; at the time of realizing that running away is not an option, there are instances when some simply try to survive for as long as they can.

On the other hand, Brian Turner’s “Here, Bullet”, he tries to define the life of a soldier in a more metaphoric approach, as if giving the bullet an essence of personification. Notably, such identifiable condition of defining what war is about intends to show how fear is developed and how it is being dealt with by soldiers as they face every day in their camps waiting for battle and remaining alive during the actual encounters with the enemy. In this poem, Brian points out the situation when the soldiers lose sight of what they are staying in the camp for and who their enemies really are. There comes a time when one simply wants to survive instead of actually killing another person for the sake of winning the battle. The psychology behind fear is what is being presented in his poem.

Turner’s poem could be quoted as follows: If a body is what you want, then here is bone and gristle and flesh… (Turner, 2005) From this particular passage, it could be noticed how Turner hopes to personify the power of the bullet as if it is the one to decide whether or not a person dies in the field. Identifying it as the enemy, he clearly defines the actual source of fear that the soldiers have to deal with while in the war zone. Remaining alert to avoid the shots being pointed at them, soldiers intend to remain calm yet enthusiastic as they try to fight for their lives. This is a very compelling situation that might seem very impossible for others to survive; the fear of losing one’s life specifically puts a soldier down even before a bullet hits him. In his poem, Turner tries to create a distinct picture that could practically provide a visionary implication on how a soldier intends to leave fear behind and be brave enough to face the challenge of the ‘bullet’. The poem further reads: …’And I dare you to finish what you’ve started. Because here, Bullet, here is where I complete the word you bring hissing through the air, here is where I moan’… (Turner, 2005). Within this lines, it could be understood how Turner shows the desire of a soldier to remain brave down to his last breath, to address the bullet as the victorious enemy in the end.

In both written works, Turner and O’Brien try to create a picture of what war is really about and how it actually looks and feels like to be in the battle field. With the desire to survive, there are those who specifically remain jolted in their position just because they are appointed to do so. On the other hand, there are also those who try to remain brave down to their last breath, nevertheless, in the end, they cannot see the feel of heroism that was promised to them when they were first invited to join the army. The grandeur of the picture being painted into the eyes of the new recruits in the army is given a blatant response by these two authors. Treating the war as the worst experiences in their lives that affected the way they see the value of life itself, Turner and O’Brien intended to create a description that would best fit the actual situations that govern the soldiers’ lives as they remain within the camps. In the long run, the soldiers who survive live each day reliving what they have seen in the battle fields. People dying, their friends trying their best to catch the last breath; all these pictures will serve as the traumatic memories war itself will leave into the minds and being of both the young and old soldiers, something much more different than the glory of being a soldier they first realized when they were merely trying to survive the first days of being in the camp.

Works Cited

O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Mariner, 2009.

Turner, Brian. Here, Bullet. Alice James Books, 2005.