Question

Consider your response to the previous question and the essay "Symptoms" by John Steinbeck. Do O’Brien’s actions during the battle and his later reflections on the battle fit with Steinbeck’s analysis about soldiers in war? Cite textual evidence from the two texts to support your response.

Answer 1

O'Brien's actions during the battle in "Ambush" and his later reflections on the battle fit with Steinbeck’s analysis about soldiers in war. Steinbeck tells us that he believes soldiers that have fought in the war do not remember much because they do not want to. He claims that forgetting about the pain and sorrow the war has brought them is a defense mechanism to continue living.

O'Brien describes a similar feeling. He remembers how he killed a man who was not threatening and had no reason to die. He feels overwhelmed with regret, and claims that he wants to forget about it. Therefore, he actively pushes it out of his mind when it comes up again, proving that the idea of forgetting as a defense mechanism is a real one among soldiers.

Answer 2

PLATO ANSWER

Both O’Brien’s “Ambush” and Steinbeck’s “Symptoms” discuss the aftereffects of war on soldiers. However, the authors have different points of view. O’Brien’s tone toward soldiers and victims of war is sympathetic. The aftereffects of war include guilt, flashbacks, and denial. The following lines from O’Brien’s essay portray the feeling of guilt the author experiences after the war:

Sometimes I forgive myself, other times I don't. In the ordinary hours of life I try not to dwell on it, but now and then, when I'm reading a newspaper or just sitting alone in a room, I'll look up and see the young man coming out of the morning fog. I'll watch him walk toward me, his shoulders slightly stooped, his head cocked to the side, and he'll pass within a few yards of me and suddenly smile at some secret thought and then continue up the trail to where it bends back into the fog.

On the other hand, Steinbeck discusses war and its effect on soldiers in an almost scientific way. He believes that a soldier becomes reticent and does not like to remember the events of war because the memories are traumatic. The following lines from Steinbeck’s “Symptoms” convey this feeling:

During the years between the last war and this one, I was always puzzled by the reticence of ex-soldiers about their experiences in battle. . . .  

Only recently have I found what seems to be a reasonable explanation, and the answer is simple. They did not and do not remember--and the worse the battle was, the less they remember.

While both writers have different perspectives, it seems as though O’Brien experiences trauma when he thinks about war and so he doesn’t want to think about it, which is what Steinbeck has written about. O’Brien writes, “I want to tell her exactly what happened, or what I remember happening,” as though he cannot remember what he had undergone because he doesn’t want to remember, as is evident from his admitting that “In the ordinary hours of life I try not to dwell on it. . . ."