Think of the soldiers who are trained to be violent for enemies and a big part of their life is spent in learning how to kill other and the techniques of combatting, when they return to a normal civilian life, they have to face a lot of issues. Their brains and their thoughts, nothing is similar to the rest of the people. They fight and shoot in their lives, but when they become civilians, life takes a turn. One of the major differences in their lifestyle. They are used to of living in disciplined and strict structures of forces, and when they enter the world where there is no discipline, and every person is haphazardly walking down the street, it bothers them.
In Kolona, Father loses his son because he had to choose his nephew or son. He had the option to save one of the boys, his son or his brother’s, and he decided to save his friend’s son. He wanted to save both, he offered all he had, his money, car, and phone but the general was not ready to let them go. He said,” With that money, you can only buy the life of one guy.” The pain of this line and not having enough money at that time remained in his heart forever. It was carved in his mind, and he could not forget. Anyway, after the era of war, when everything was normal, he still had the flashbacks. It was not easy for him to forget the memories when he decided to let his son die because he had no choice. He could not get rid of those flashbacks. Each and everything of the present, even the other guy he saved used to remind him of his son. The roads where they were treated bitterly, and he even used the word about the soldiers who were checking them that “Get hold of yourself, they are like dogs, they can smell the panic.” At that time, the family was so doomed. However, the pain is evident from his expression that even when that saved boy is getting married, he cannot stop thinking of the old times. Whether it is a happy occasion or a sad memory, Adem cannot let the old times go. This is what all the soldiers and survivors suffer from.
The story of Isaac portrays a similar picture of a soldier who cannot escape the memories of the war he fought. A small fight can turn into a big one because of his violent nature, and he starts getting scared of himself. He knows that his wife is not guilty, but he had felt the pain which his wife had when he was away. The book reads, “Not that he was afraid for her, but he was scared for himself, any minute ready to go out on the wild” (Sillitoe, 260). Also, when they spent many years away from family, they feel that their family have forgotten them and started a life without them when they reappear, their families become reluctant, and they feel they are not wanted. He did not want to get close to his family knowing that he might have to leave them someday, for work or he may even die. Therefore, he decided to stay away. His life after the war was truly affected by the war. He was scared of facing the same pain again, so it was easy to stay away from his wife and kids. He thought his wife could find some other guy. After a war, he did not consider himself good guy because of his violence.
