Summary Of Stop The Sun By Ted Hughes

“We came in spastic, like tameless horses, we left in plastic, as numbered corpses,” “Goodnight Saigon”, by Billy Joel. Multitudinous wars left numerous soldiers with PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. One war that was most common for leaving people with PTSD is the Vietnam War. Terry’s father from, ” Stop the Sun” suffered through PTSD after the Vietnam War. During the Vietnam War many soldiers died fighting for this nation making the ones who did survive suffer from PTSD and survivor's Guilt, but getting home was, as the song states, no soft soap. When the soldiers returned home from Vietnam virtually everybody hated them. The nightly news showed pictures of them killing innocent children and citizens making the soldiers seem like they have a sense of malice. In the article, “PTSD” and in the short story, “Stop the Sun” examples of symptoms and problems that countless soldiers and veterans after war endured.
“PTSD is not diagnosed unless the symptoms last for at least one month,” (“PTSD”). Many people who suffer from this disorder may actually relive the traumatic event. They remember it so clearly that they can picture every detail as if it were yesterday. PTSD victims may not only be affected mentally but also emotionally and physically. In “Stop the Sun,” Terry witnesses his father reliving one of the most memorable and vivid experiences he went through in the Vietnam War. “His father was squirming along the floor on his stomach. He was crying, looking terrified, his breath coming in short, hot pants, like some kind of hurt animal, (“Stop the Sun”). Terry’s father is showing one of the numerous symptoms that come alongside with this disorder. With his father on the flooring, this showcases a symptom of reliving the traumatic event he experienced during the