Discussion 4 of 5
What is your opinion on the way psychology and peoples' mental states are portrayed within these chapters? How does psychology help move the story along?
What is your opinion on the way psychology and peoples' mental states are portrayed within these chapters? How does psychology help move the story along?
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I believe that the way psychology and peoples' mental states are portrayed within these chapters shows that they are being severely changed and that they are deteriorating mentally. For example, the chaplain repeatedly questions if his sighting of the naked man in the tree (Yossarian) on the day of Snowden's funeral was real or not. He also seems to question his faith and whether religion is real/worth believing in at all. The chaplain is an anabaptist to begin with so I imagine that working as a chaplain in the armed forces is already putting a damper on his mental state. Yossarian's mental state is also deteriorating when he is in the hospital. Though all the servicemen seem to make accepted(?) passes at women through the beginning of the novel up until this point, his violating of Nurse Duckett seems out of character and upsetting. I believed that Yossarian was one of the few men, if not, the only man, who behaved and reacted logically. He did not behave like Aarfy or Hungry Joe, crude and vulgar. But at this point, he does. Psychology is helping move the story along by showing the change that these men are undergoing mentally and why they are occurring.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with Hannah. I have another example of the Chaplain's mental state which I truly believe shows what the war has done to him. He is in the hospital on page 363, and was lying about his medical condition. Throughout this entire novel the chaplain was tried to stay on the straight and narrow path. I feel like at this point in the book he has finally snapped. He is sinning and he loves it. Just a few pages later everyone in the hospital starts going mad because the solider in plaster and gauze was back! The war has taken it's toll on all of the soldiers, but I agree with Hannah on the fact that Yossarian is one of the only characters that reacting logically and is wanting to be taken out of combat. I believe that psychology is moving the book along because I feel like as the book progresses the men and becoming more and more mentally and physically drained. It's moving the book along because near the end of the novel, the men have had about enough.
ReplyDeleteThe mental state of the people almost stay the same, or as the Co siderstion their mental states gets does. As for the psychology, the men get worse and worse as the men get farther into the war. It tears on them. Wears them down. My mental state is in agony as I continue to read about their agony and I know that the oil on my fingers start to deteriorat the pages worse then any bomb could destroy their pulse. People are always afraid of drying but torture isn't any better than the afterlife
ReplyDeleteI agree with Hayley in regards to the Chaplain being a prime example of mental deterioration. He was one of my favorite characters because he cared so much of what others thought of him and was careful not to cause trouble even when advocating for the missions to be reduced and the soldiers sent home. The war then, over time, wears him down just like the rest of the men, and turns him into a completely different person for a little while. He has nightmares of his family leaving him and encounters quite a bit of stress from the Colonels trying to frame him for something he didn't do. All of this leads him to begin sinning and getting away from his mission. However, I was glad to see him somewhat return to his old self at the end when encouraging Yossarian to do what he felt as right and he himself decided to continue advocating for the soldiers. Going back to the psychology in the novel, the book was centered around it. There was more focus on thought than actual action of the war and I found that to be helpful and I got a better understanding that way.
ReplyDeleteIn these Chapters psychology and peoples' mental states are portrayed in a disturbing way. Because as the story moves along the characters' mental states deteriorate more and more rapidly, especially when something tragic happens i.e. someone dies. Just as Meagan and Hayley mentioned, the Chaplain is one of the more obvious and negative cases due to his original high standings. However, this happens with nearly all of the main characters. It goes to push the book into the darker places which Heller uses to highlight the negative impacts of war. The book quickly get's darker not only as more people die, but as Kayla mentioned "..torture isn't any better than the afterlife." the people who survive are ultimately viewed as unlucky, because they are deteriorating, suffering, and becoming not like themselves at all. And yet what I find the most disturbing is the lack of action being taken to help the men who are suffering with mental illness, due to all the "catches", loopholes, and truly uneducated doctors/officials who are looking after the men.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what many people have said. The mental states of the men have deteriorated over the course of the the book because of the war. The book does become very dark and sad. One can see this because of the poor Chaplin who was the one who tired to help the men in anyway possible finally reached his breaking point. The worse part as Destiny has said that the men are in need of relief because of there mental state and the men that are supposed to be watching over the men can't/ won't do anything to help them. The situation is just very disturbing.
ReplyDeleteIn these chapters psychology and the mental state of the soldiers are portrayed as fragile which is something I admire due to it's legitimacy of possibly happening. Something like a death, stress,and anxiety can set off a downward slope of deteriorating sanity if not cared for as shown by Dobbs turning into a delusional wannabe murderer, and General Peckem conspiring against General Dreedle to seem more superior. These little stories help move the overall story along by adding reason behind certain actions taken and providing more information about how each character will end up living or how much longer they'll live due to their susceptibility to certain people or events.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the entire story there is an upward slope of the deterioration of each characters mental state. The slope gets way larger in these few chapters. It is obvious to see with the main characters such as what almost everyone has said with the Chaplain, but the way it really sticks out to me is how it is portrayed with the not so important characters. For instance, even Nately's prostitute starts going more insane through these chapters, she even believes she has fallen in love with Nately for a short while. Even the characters that are just background characters seem to be acting more insane like the shooters who decided to celebrate New Years a day early. All in all the entirety of the book is just rapidly moving more and more insane especially throughout these chapters.
ReplyDelete