Ted Lavender As A Soldier: A Brief Analysis

An Israeli female soldier fell apart to her traumatic death incident of her comrade on Monday, November 23, 2015. In the West bank in Nabulus city at a petrol station, a Palestinian stabbed an Israeli soldier in the stomach. To her, it seemed as if her whole world was deteriorating. However, to another soldier reporting that it was a horrible misfortune, but it was common that many Israelis had been getting killed recently, showed that it was easier for him to deal with this heartbreak unlike the female soldier (Evans). For some people, such a loss might be one of the hardest challenges to endure and might let their grief disrupt their daily activities; there might be other people who are resilient and able to overcome it quicker. Coping with such a
Instead of grieving about Ted Lavender’s death, the soldiers found ways to overcome that by telling jokes about Lavender while smoking his dope. This was a positive strategy for the soldiers to ride out the feelings of grief by talking to each other. Even though this form of mechanism may seem shallow and disrespectful, it was necessary for the soldiers to move on with the war because death was something that the soldiers would have to get used to. Moreover, Kiowa’s death greatly affected the soldiers in different aspects. To accept his grief, Azar made jokes, irony, and sarcasm about Kiowa’s death and is eventually forced to stop. Although this action seemed wrong at the time, it was a way for Azar to move on. Some soldiers such as Kiowa and Norman Bowker told Azar to stop joking around, but other soldiers partake in this mechanism through humor as well. As Tim and Jensen were throwing away pieces of Curt Lemon, Dave Jensen started to sing the song “Lemon Tree,” as his way to make himself feel better about his emotions. This act of telling jokes helps one to reduce the amount of pain one feels and makes it easier for one to