Many who experience war or various other traumatic events in their life time often times are burdened with long lasting memories that aren’t always easy to deal with. After experiencing an event that dramatically effects one’s life, many side effects will often be experienced as a result. In Simon van Booy’s “As Much Below as Up Above”, the main character was a soldier in the Vietnam war who now lives in America after being in Russia for most of his life. After getting a glimpse into his experience in the navy as well as his relationship experience, it is clear he struggles with PTSD from Vietnam. Even though he now lives in America we see him still struggle with the past events from his time at war.  It is also evident there is a communication barrier he faces with Mina, his love interest, when it comes to his past in Russia. He often times keeps from telling her the whole truth especially when it comes to what happened during the war. Through Van Booy’s writing, the audience is able to connect to the main character in a way similar to what he is experiencing with PTSD by showing a steady circle of thoughts that always relate back to his negative experiences in war. By looking at the symptoms of PTSD and the Vietnam war, we can see how the main character has reoccurring flashbacks that keep him connected to war and distance himself in his relationships. This is important because it shows how PTSD affects the main character’s day to day life and social communication. 

The main character was a soldier in the Vietnam was, to be more specific, he was in the navy in Russia. What contributes to his PTSD most is the event of the sinking ship he was a part of. Not only was he badly injured himself, he witnessed many fellow soldiers hurt and killed as well. We are informed his friend, Dimitri, was actually killed when he fell overboard the ship. This information gives the audience a slight background on the situation and experience he went through that helps us relate to him. This also gives us somewhat of a historical idea of how the Vietnam was conditions were when in the Navy. With this, the audience is able to make connections with the character about his time at war. It also gives the audience clues on how the events that have happened to the main character contribute to the idea of PTSD and how that is affecting his current and future life. 

PTSD was a product in relation to the Vietnam war (Xenakis). “An event outside the range of normal human experience” is a strong definition of PTSD (Roberts). According to Leslie Roberts, when someone experiences PTSD, many symptoms such as flashback and re-experience of the event can occur. In Van Booy’s piece, we see with the main character a strong line of flashbacks while he sits on the beach. Just the sight of the ocean brings a strong sense of uneasiness to him due to his past experience in the Navy. In one of the first paragraphs he says “The sea looks different in America, but I am still unable to brave the blind laugh of white foam” (Van Booy). From this sentence we are able to see that even though he isn’t in the same location as the war, he still imagines it as the same. The audience is given many descriptions of his current state such as sitting on the beach and the people around him. He explains the people he sees are good at distracting him from his friend’s hands “which poke out from the waves” (Van Booy).  This contributes to the symptoms of PTSD because he goes on to describe his day at the beach but relates it back to his tragic experience at war when his friend was thrown overboard. Within the next few paragraphs a story of how the main character meets his lover is presented to the audience. Once he shares his small story on how they met in a Russian bar, he is then haunted by the past when again thinking about the ocean. 

During the story of how the main character met Mina, we see a bit of defensive skills and lash out at a another man who rough handles a friend of Mina’s while in the bar. According to Crosby Hipes , many people who have PTSD have severe anger. He also says that PTSD contributes to the chances of committing a crime. After a drunken man harasses Mina’s friend, he steps in to then grab the man by the throat and kick him out of the bar. With the urgency and how fast the character responds, it’s almost as if he reacted without processing his actions beforehand. It could be said this is just a normal instinct from a gentleman when he sees a woman in danger but it also has a strong correlation with the PTSD symptoms of anger and violence especially since he is a veteran of war. 

Many who have been to war also experience relationship struggles as well. Because many traumatic events have been experienced by an individual, it can cause a communication barrier with friends and loved ones because they are often consumed with memories from the past. In Van Booy’s piece, we can see the main character faces these struggles himself. When looking at his relationship with Mina, he has obviously left out very crucial information when it comes to his experiences in war. He explains that he did tell her about his friends passing but he doesn’t go to the full extent of informing her about everything. It seems as if he is almost afraid of what she might think. This also connects back to the symptom of re-experiencing the events. If he tells Mina about it, he will be facing the events again which is something he may be trying to avoid and soon hopefully can push to the back of his mind. In Van Booy’s piece, we also see that the main character experienced a sense of togetherness between himself and fellow soldiers. Being in close quarters for an extended period of time like he was on the ship can definitely create a bond and type of relationship that might not come from any other situation. During the tragic event occurred that the main character keeps remembering, almost all of his closest friends were lost. This can be a hard time for anyone in any situation when a close friend or family member passes, so for him during this time he had lost everything closest to him. When looking at how this might affect his relationship with Mina, not only would he have to relive the event by telling her, but he may be afraid that he might lose her as well. Being someone coming from a situation such as this could make him seem as someone with a lot of baggage. He may be afraid that Mina may not be accepting of how it has truly affected his life. If he decides to share with Mina how his life has been impacted in such a way and Mina isn’t accepting and understanding of his current mental state, then he is back to losing everything he has. 

When looking at PTSD with anyone experiencing a tragic event, it can be very altering to one’s lifestyle as well as social interactions. As seen in Simon Van Booy’s “As Much Below as Up Above”, we can see the main character experiences many symptoms of PTSD such as reoccurring flashbacks and relationship struggles that keep him distant from his lover, Mina. The main characters struggle with flashbacks have kept him connected with his past almost all the time even when trying to enjoy a day at the beach. After losing majority of his friends, all he has is Mina. Allowing himself to become vulnerable and inform Mina with the whole story could affect their relationship in a negative relationship, or at least that’s what he fears. 
