In Slaughterhouse Five, Billy Pilgrim has clear issues. As we later diagnosed him in class, he had a strong case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Whenever memories triggered feelings of war, he would find comfort through certain coping mechanisms. He would often times time travel or find comfort through the Tralfamadorians.
Thus far in Going After Cacciato, O'Brien presents two characters that struck me. Though the do not have PTSD as Pilgrim has, they both find different ways of coping with their anxiety. The first and obvious one is Cacciato himself. He had issues with the military and its presence in Vietnam. To deal with that discontent, he left and headed towards Paris. That was his way of coping with the rigors of war. Next is Paul Berlin. One of the ways that he deals with war is demonstrated on page 10- "Paul Berlin sat alone playing solitaire in the style of Las Vegas. Pretending ways of spending his earnings. Travel, expensive hotels, tips for everyone. Wine and song on white terraces, fountains blowing colored water. Pretending was his best trick for forgetting the war." It's pretty obvious from that quote how Paul Berlin occupies his mind in order to stay stable during the war.
The two points I'm trying to reach here are as follows: 1) War is the most physically and mentally damaging thing one can put him or herself through. We have seen time and time again that no matter how hard you try, there is no coming back from war the same. The experiences permanently change you- it's inevitable. You just have to hope that you are fighting for something greater than yourself and stick to that belief. 2) Being able to read these novels through the eyes of two men that were there and experienced the war is great. Who better to tell the terrors of war than those who lived the terrors?
