Lost but not Forgotten
War is a necessary evil. America was set free by the Revolutionary War. We thrive in war time as a country, but it can take a toll on the individuals who fight for our freedom. The soldiers who do so sacrifice not only their bodies, but their minds. The battle isn’t over once they return. One of the biggest obstacles they have to overcome is the adjustment to normalcy. At the end of World War I many young men were returning from Europe and finding out that they had a full life to live. Those men felt displaced and didn’t believe the return to a standard American life was possible. In the short story “ Soldier’s Home” Krebs has no ambition to find a job or find a girl after the war. Krebs’s understanding was that things …show more content…
The men who fought this war witnessed gruesome sights. Trench warfare had been introduced along with mustard gas, and it was not pretty. With these advances it took the vulgar actions to new heights. Kerb has experienced these first hand and upon returning home he was distraught. He said little to his family and spent his days with no passion. He walked around the town aimlessly and spent most of his time reading war books. Throughout the story Krebs answers his family with very short responses. By doing this he shuts them out, and forces them to pry into him deeper. His mother shows an abundance of concern and feels like he is not the same man who left for the war. Krebs returned much later than everyone else which meant that there was no parades in his honor or large groups of people asking him how he made it out of the war alive. Krebs was forced to lie about his experiences in order to feel right, but that only made things …show more content…
Krebs was a man of faith and when he returned he had no faith. Krebs said “I don’t love anybody” and by saying this Krebs shows his true colors (Hemingway 189). During this altercation between Krebs and his mother she realizes that war has seriously transformed her son. His mother believes that even though her baby boy had seen the horrid sights of war that he still believes in a higher power. Krebs’s mother offers to pray for him. For respect Krebs allows his mother to do so even though he does not engage in prayer. Continuously Hemingway writes short choppy sentence fragments for Krebs to say to his mother. By doing this he makes Krebs appear to be awkward and unwilling to have a full conversation. In many cases the men who return from war can suffer PTSD. This mental illness can psychologically cripple a person and make it hard for even their closest friends and family to recognize
War is a necessary evil. America was set free by the Revolutionary War. We thrive in war time as a country, but it can take a toll on the individuals who fight for our freedom. The soldiers who do so sacrifice not only their bodies, but their minds. The battle isn’t over once they return. One of the biggest obstacles they have to overcome is the adjustment to normalcy. At the end of World War I many young men were returning from Europe and finding out that they had a full life to live. Those men felt displaced and didn’t believe the return to a standard American life was possible. In the short story “ Soldier’s Home” Krebs has no ambition to find a job or find a girl after the war. Krebs’s understanding was that things …show more content…
The men who fought this war witnessed gruesome sights. Trench warfare had been introduced along with mustard gas, and it was not pretty. With these advances it took the vulgar actions to new heights. Kerb has experienced these first hand and upon returning home he was distraught. He said little to his family and spent his days with no passion. He walked around the town aimlessly and spent most of his time reading war books. Throughout the story Krebs answers his family with very short responses. By doing this he shuts them out, and forces them to pry into him deeper. His mother shows an abundance of concern and feels like he is not the same man who left for the war. Krebs returned much later than everyone else which meant that there was no parades in his honor or large groups of people asking him how he made it out of the war alive. Krebs was forced to lie about his experiences in order to feel right, but that only made things …show more content…
Krebs was a man of faith and when he returned he had no faith. Krebs said “I don’t love anybody” and by saying this Krebs shows his true colors (Hemingway 189). During this altercation between Krebs and his mother she realizes that war has seriously transformed her son. His mother believes that even though her baby boy had seen the horrid sights of war that he still believes in a higher power. Krebs’s mother offers to pray for him. For respect Krebs allows his mother to do so even though he does not engage in prayer. Continuously Hemingway writes short choppy sentence fragments for Krebs to say to his mother. By doing this he makes Krebs appear to be awkward and unwilling to have a full conversation. In many cases the men who return from war can suffer PTSD. This mental illness can psychologically cripple a person and make it hard for even their closest friends and family to recognize