Guilt can be characterized as such, ”A feeling of anxiety or unhappiness that you have done something immoral or wrong, such as causing harm to another person” (Cambridge English Dictionary). Many soldiers experience guilt as an aftermath of the war since it is such a fast paced lifestyle where quick decisions have to be made and they may not always be the smartest decisions. Guilt can be both productive and counterproductive, because on one hand, guilt can give one experience so that they will not make the same mistake in the future. On the other hand, if guilt prevents one from living a healthy lifestyle, then it is no longer an adventagious emotion. Guilt can create little red demons in the head repeating over and over again what is wrong until the point of crazyness has arrived. O’Brien has explained the negative effects of guilt by providing an example with Lt. Jimmy Cross, “He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war.” Not only is war a fast paced lifestyle where mistakes happen, but war is also a place where, if there is a mistake, it could be a deadly one that you will “carry like a stone”. The fact that decisions need to be made quickly in war makes it particularly difficult to avoid experiencing at least a little bit of guilt due to the lack of time needed for proper judgement. This is how soldiers develop P.T.S.D. symptoms among other disorders. Lt. Jimmy Cross had been overpreoccupied with Martha, so he lost a soldier. That was all he needed to bear the loss of someone else’s life on his hands.
Bibliography: "Surreal Faces." HongKiat.com. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/surreal-faces-artworks/>.
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