Krebs is antisocial, not supported, and feels like he? Must be Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Harold Krebs is the main character in Ernest Hemingway’s Soldier’s Home. He is a survivor of World War I and he fought there from 1917 till 1919. When he comes back from war, he is not welcomed and he does not get back into a normal lifestyle. He shows many traits of PTSD which can prove along with the second and third chapters of Dr. Judith Lewis Herman’s book: Trauma and Recovery. Trauma is an effect of an event that takes away a person’s ability to adjust back to a normal life. In Herman’s book, she states: “Traumatic events…overwhelm the ordinary human and adaption to life… [They] generally involve threats to life or bodily
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Herman says: “the attempt to avoid reliving trauma too often results in a narrowing of consciousness a withdrawal from engagement with others and an impoverished life.” (Herman, 42) In this quote, it said that a person with trauma is scared to join in on groups because of the fear of a traumatic memory coming back. This is a huge effect on a person’s life and can stop interaction’s with others. Throughout Soldier’s Home, Hemingway writes how Krebs wants to have a social life but he always ends up backing away from it. One of Hemingway’s passages about this topic is: “Now he would have liked to have a girl of she had come to him and not want to talk. But here at home it was all too complicated. He knew he could never get through it all again. It was not worth the trouble.” (Hemingway, 72) This is just one of the many examples Hemingway gives about how Krebs wants to be social but then backs away. Intrusion is shown perfectly here, Krebs is so afraid that he would not go out and make friends. He is excluding himself from people, which is almost like the next topic: …show more content…
And for World War 1, most soldiers that were sent were very young, around upper teenage age. Herman stated: “The period of greatest psychological vulnerability’s also in reality the period of greatest traumatic exposure.” (Herman, 61) Basically, the younger a person is the more likely they are to get problems when they experience something bad. When they start war earlier and get worse PTSD, it will be even harder to get rid of. Krebs went to war when he was young. In Soldier’s Home it is said, “Krebs went to the war from a Methodist college.” (Hemingway, 69) So, Krebs is probably between the ages of 18 and 22 because those are the ages of most college students. So, he is still rather young when he went to war and that is why he is was vulnerable and was more like to get a serious level of
Herman says: “the attempt to avoid reliving trauma too often results in a narrowing of consciousness a withdrawal from engagement with others and an impoverished life.” (Herman, 42) In this quote, it said that a person with trauma is scared to join in on groups because of the fear of a traumatic memory coming back. This is a huge effect on a person’s life and can stop interaction’s with others. Throughout Soldier’s Home, Hemingway writes how Krebs wants to have a social life but he always ends up backing away from it. One of Hemingway’s passages about this topic is: “Now he would have liked to have a girl of she had come to him and not want to talk. But here at home it was all too complicated. He knew he could never get through it all again. It was not worth the trouble.” (Hemingway, 72) This is just one of the many examples Hemingway gives about how Krebs wants to be social but then backs away. Intrusion is shown perfectly here, Krebs is so afraid that he would not go out and make friends. He is excluding himself from people, which is almost like the next topic: …show more content…
And for World War 1, most soldiers that were sent were very young, around upper teenage age. Herman stated: “The period of greatest psychological vulnerability’s also in reality the period of greatest traumatic exposure.” (Herman, 61) Basically, the younger a person is the more likely they are to get problems when they experience something bad. When they start war earlier and get worse PTSD, it will be even harder to get rid of. Krebs went to war when he was young. In Soldier’s Home it is said, “Krebs went to the war from a Methodist college.” (Hemingway, 69) So, Krebs is probably between the ages of 18 and 22 because those are the ages of most college students. So, he is still rather young when he went to war and that is why he is was vulnerable and was more like to get a serious level of