War In Sentimentalists And Return

During the occurrence of World War II, an average of 6,000 lives was lost per day. As a result, only 20% of the males born in the Soviet Union survived the war. Conceptually, war ensues tragedy upon individuals, often leaving permanent scars and affecting future endeavors. These consequences are greatly depicted within the play Return and the novel Sentimentalists. Return is a theatrefront directed by Sue Balint. It is a dramatic story influenced by the aftermaths of the Vietnam War. This narrative takes place in a city denominated Sarajevo, where the majority of the people speak Bosnian with some English. The Sentimentalists is written by Johanna Skibsrud and takes place in a fictional town by the name of Casablanca where war develops negative

The characters connect through an emotional crisis caused by the overdeveloped sense of guilt and anxiety through losing someone dear to them during a war. The evolution of anxiety level caused by the aftermaths of war has different forms of destructive influences on the personality of each character. The unceasing expansion of guilt engendered through pain and suffering, falsifies the inner emotions of the characters, resulting in devastating outcomes. Understanding the potential aftermaths of war and its effects on each person’s personality will further enhance the current psychological knowledge of individuals under tragic circumstances. Tarik and Henry relate through the accumulation of guilt as a result of the horrifying effects of war, particularly the loss of a loved one. Tarik is repeatedly hallucinating the scene of losing his comrade in war, “(ELMA is shot.) Elma! If I could do it

Tarik authentically explains what had happened during the war, and tries to escape from his guilt by an incentive, generated through altering the perspective of others into believing that he is a man of compassion: “I went to help her but I took her money and I ran away. I thought if I tried to bring you to Canada she would go away. But she won’t go away. She won’t go away. She won’t go away” (Balint 52). As Tarik justifies the reasoning behind his actions, he utilizes his persona to deceive others into believing that he is a good-hearted man, in order to gain their sympathy for his Id desires. The letter ‘I’ is used as an alliteration to further emphasize on the character’s selfishness. Additionally, There is a Flashback at the beginning to reveal Tarik’s remorse of his past actions. While Tarik tries to manipulate the others, Henry looks at life with an incipient perspective after losing his son, where hope is overruled by pain, “What pain, I thought now, could be greater than to realize that even the practical reality for which you had assumed to settle upon, did not hold – that even that was illusory?” (Skibsrud 117). Pain, guilt, and hopelessness have developed a new repression for Henry, where the illusory conception of life outweighs any pain. Thus, he does not approve of life being worthy to fight for. The continual enlargement of culpability