Where Have You Gone By Paul Berlin Essay

Does Paul Berlin Have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?

Throughout the story, “Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy”, a brave soldier, Billy Boy, died from a heart attack of being frighten. After the incident, Paul Berlin started showing signs of a disorder called, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder is a mental disorder that can be developed after a person is affected to a disturbing event. There were several different types of signs in the story showing Paul Berlin’s disorder of him laughing constantly, pretending to be a child again, having imaginary conversations with his dad, liking unordinary things, and not being able to tell the difference between dreaming and reality.
The story mostly showed Paul Berlin laughing about almost
Paul Berlin does the same thing. For examples, in the text, it said, “He was pretending he was a boy again …. In the dark with his eyes pinched shut, he pretend” (pg 64). Paul Berlin wanting to be a boy again makes him want to go back to his childhood where none of the violence or war is happening. Not only does Paul Berlin pretends, but he also has conversations and it’s not just an ordinary conversation. “He would look to his father in the eye and shrug and say, it was pretty bad at first, but I learned and got used to it” (pg 66). This clearly shows that wherever he goes, he brings his imaginary conversations with his dad along with him. People have fears and dislikes. It’s very unusual to say that while Paul Berlin was walking around the trail, he found a graveyard and thought it was a nice place to stay for the night. In the story, it said, “The graveyard had a nice perfumy smell. A nice place to stay for the night, he thought” (pg. 66). Many people wouldn’t like to stay in a cemetery during the night because of all the people that have past away and of the strange smell. Although the smell doesn’t seem to bother Paul Berlin at