This poem focuses on a young man named Komunyakaa who struggles with hiding his grief after fighting in the Vietnam War. The setting of the poem is at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, where Komunyakaa first experiences difficulties with expressing his battle with his depression. This is evident as the poem begins with a sad tone, and Komunyakaa displays a sense of sadness as he views the granite wall with the names of all the slain military victims.You can instantly conclude that he is battling with ways to express his emotions as he is constantly trying to keep himself from crying and showing his true emotions. As the poem progresses, he seems to become a bit rattled at the shadow of a woman, as it seems that she is “wiping” names from the wall.
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It starts out with minor forms of anxiety and switches to major forms of anxiety as the person constantly discusses topics related to any traumatic event that they have experienced. Such as in Komunyakaa’s place, he got to the point of PTSD where he was suffering with deciphering what was real and what was fake. He says, “In the black mirror a woman is trying to erase names: No, she’s brushing a young boy’s hair.” Here, he struggles with anxiety as he thinks the woman is wiping away the name’s of the slain military victims forever. He becomes overwhelmed because he feels that she 's getting rid of the slain victims in a way. He soon comes back to his sense’s though as he realizes that a young boy is standing in front of her and she’s only brushing his hair. This is similar to my uncle because he would experience forms of anxiety when he would see military victims and he would think they were going to try to hurt him. He was so stuck on his past experiences in the war, that he had trouble with realizing that he was now a safe man. He would eventually come back to his senses though and realize that no one was out to hurt him, such as Komunyakaa did when he saw the young boy. Both of these examples show how strong of an effect that PTSD can have on your life. PTSD is an issue that affects a person’s life by molding it into a case where it’s hard to live due
It starts out with minor forms of anxiety and switches to major forms of anxiety as the person constantly discusses topics related to any traumatic event that they have experienced. Such as in Komunyakaa’s place, he got to the point of PTSD where he was suffering with deciphering what was real and what was fake. He says, “In the black mirror a woman is trying to erase names: No, she’s brushing a young boy’s hair.” Here, he struggles with anxiety as he thinks the woman is wiping away the name’s of the slain military victims forever. He becomes overwhelmed because he feels that she 's getting rid of the slain victims in a way. He soon comes back to his sense’s though as he realizes that a young boy is standing in front of her and she’s only brushing his hair. This is similar to my uncle because he would experience forms of anxiety when he would see military victims and he would think they were going to try to hurt him. He was so stuck on his past experiences in the war, that he had trouble with realizing that he was now a safe man. He would eventually come back to his senses though and realize that no one was out to hurt him, such as Komunyakaa did when he saw the young boy. Both of these examples show how strong of an effect that PTSD can have on your life. PTSD is an issue that affects a person’s life by molding it into a case where it’s hard to live due