Building up

How do people cope with all the death, fear, and destruction around them? “Ted Lavender had a habit of popping four or five tranquilizers everyday…. It was his way of coping, just dealing with realities and the drugs helped him to ease through the days” (O’Brien 218). This quote shows how desperate people in war are to escape their reality. When someone takes a drug, it will relax them talking them away from the stress, pain, and fear. But what happens if one cannot escape? Will they be alright? Will they be able to carry on or commit suicide? “[Rat Kiley] apparently he lost his cool… he couldn't sleep during the hot daylight hours; he couldn't cope with the nights,” shows that if one cannot escape, will they go crazy or will they be able to handle the pressure that war brings to them? (O’Brien 208-211) Rat Kily was a medic who tended to the sick and injured. He had a lot of responsibility to the people in his group because if he is unable to heal them, their lives would he on his hands. He may not be the person who is doing the killing however, he feels guilt if he is unable to save a person.  The pressure was too much for him to handle so “ late one afternoon as the platoon prepared for another march, he broke down in front of Mitchell Sanders,” shows that if one cannot escape their reality, how long will they stay sane? (O’Brien 211) after a time, someone’s emotional stability is at stake when they are under pressure. Rat Kiley broke down because that was his way of releasing all the built up tension and fear to let some of it off of his shoulders. However, as time went on his personality and habits worsted until “The next morning he shot himself,” in the foot shows that he wanted to be out of the torture so much that he was willing to self-mutilate his foot in order to be let out of the war. (O’Brien 212) In some cases, people would commit suicide, but why didn’t Rat Kily? Was it because even though we wanted a way out of the war, he was still afraid to die with better hopes that he could heal even if he wasn’t actively participating in the action of the fighting? “Nobody blamed him Sanders said,” shows that everyone else understood Kily’s suffering. Rat Kily, until he started to break down seemed to have a stable personality, he risked his life to save people in war and he was a good healer however, one day the pressure got to be too much so he finally snapped. What was it that made him snap? He was doing so well and seemed stable. Perhaps enough was enough and all the baggage built up over time.