How I Live Now

Humans are capable of phenomenal behaviours and actions when forced into war and conflict. Not only is their body under stress and anxiety but so are their brains, forced to make life changing decisions within seconds sometimes without a choice. When under pressure, some people don't even realise what they are doing until the situation is completely over and they sit in a pool of regret over what they have done and who they have affected. Human's moral opinions are demolished to make way for their own survival, their body forced into a fight or flight response and their future forever changed after what they have experienced. How I Live Now demonstrates this idea well, five children exposed to war with no experience, their minds still innocent
and untainted and the horror of war brutally forced upon them.

What humans think they are capable of and what they think is right can completely change in a life threatening situation.
For example, we've all heard people say they would take a bullet for someone, but in reality, if they are ever in that situation, would they? Crisis affects the human brain and can change the person's morals in an instant. In How I Live Now, we can see this happening in several situations. One of these situations is when the twins, Edmond and Isaac, separate, their brotherly instincts forgotten, just so they could survive. This was more the case for Isaac because he was the one who wanted to leave and go back home. Edmond was different, he stayed strong and defended his moral values by standing up to Isaac. However, despite Edmond's efforts, Isaac just couldn't go back to help the people because he was too focused on his own survival. We may interpret this as selfish, but in reality, a large majority of us would do the exact same thing. Separating from Edmond is something Isaac "never thought was possible" but when crisis came face to face with him, it flipped him onto a path for survival, which involved leaving Edmond behind if he wasn't going to cooperate. The agony Isaac would have gone through to make this decision would have been immense, he didn't know where, when or how Edmond would end up by leaving him. War tears people apart, no matter how close they are because of the race for survival. Isaac was caught up in this race and totally dismissed
anything that would stop him from winning.

When humans experience a crisis, or are being threatened, their bodies automatically kick into fight and flight, a survival instinct. A lot of people can get shocked to the point they can't move, frozen in place until it's over. This is the case when both Joe and Major McEvoy were killed right before Piper's, Daisy's and other bystander's eyes. We can only imagine the shock to have the blood from an innocent man standing a few metres away, splash all over your face and body as he gets shot in the head. To top it all off, someone you know also gets shot several times by just trying to help them. Daisy, Piper and the other people were all "too stunned even to cry or speak", their bodies not even moving as they watch the whole scene unfold. Another example of survival is Daisy's sudden opinion change about food. In a war were food is scarce and you are left to fend for yourself, your body doesn't care about how thin you look, all it cares about is that you eat. Throughout the majority of the book, Daisy had a set in stone minimal food rule for herself. Whenever there was even a slight chance she was gaining weight, she would put off food and deprive herself of this basic human need. However, once the war started, she realised her body's need for food and broke the mental barrier that was stopping her from eating because of her body's survival instinct. Daisy even states that all her and Piper had nothing to do but "notice how hungry [they] were". People's automatic survival system plays a big part in how we think during times of crisis and during our everyday lives. When exposed to violence and death, we behave in ways we wouldn't expect to and are controlled by our own selves fighting for survival.

After the destruction of war, people need time.
They need time to reflect, recollect themselves and rebuild their lives, some people even need psychological treatment. However, even after they've had this time, they will never be the same again. War is powerful and so are the memories that it brings with it and even after war, people can still behave in extraordinary ways. They may be sensitive to certain topics and act a certain way, shy away from certain people, it's all part of the haunting memories they made during the war. This is hugely demonstrated by Edmond's peculiar behaviour in the second part of the book. Edmond is described as anti-social, angry and full of "rage". This is because of the effect war had on him, all the destruction and violence flashing before his eyes and replaying in his mind everyday. Not even reuniting with Daisy seems to cheer him up, instead, it seemed to make him angry or upset. Some could argue that he didn't even love Daisy anymore. However, I think that we need to pardon this cold attitude of his and look past it and instead, look at how he is trying his best to overcome his mental state so that he can express his love to Daisy properly again. "He freed his hands and took mine stiff and icy cold, and wrapped them in his, which were warm", this quote is an example of how he is slowly trying to recollect himself. It is true that he will never be the same again after what he went through but, I believe he will get better after being with
Daisy for a while. War is so big that it can scar you for life, this doesn't stop your mental state from getting better, but you will always have it in the back of your mind or get a strange feeling when it's talked about.

Conflict, violence and destruction is what war creates and it is out of people's control. It changes us as people and makes us become someone we never thought we would become. It is something that will haunt us forever because of the large scale impact on not only us but our peers as well. This behaviour can seem like a dark and negative thing but when you get down to it, it's only our body and mind helping us survive both physically and psychologically in such harsh conditions. How I Live Now is able to support this idea well because it allows us to follow along and get an insight into the lives of those affected by war. Comparing the behaviour of the characters pre and post war, there is a dramatic change, including maturity and low key insanity. The novel's characters don't fail to display extraordinary behaviour in times of crisis and they certainly don't fail to show the long term psychological effects of war.