Which two sentences in this excerpt from John Steinbeck's "Symptoms" address the theme of soldiers being reluctant to talk about their experiences
in war?
If they had been reticent men it would have been different, but
some
them were talkers and some were even boasters. They would discuss their
experiences right up to the time of battle and then suddenly they wouldn't talk anymore. This was considered heroic in them.
It was thought that they
had seen or done was so horrible that they didn't want to bring it back to haunt them or their listeners. But many of these men had no such
consideration in any other field.
Only recently have I found what seems to be a reasonable explanation, and the answer is simple. They did not and do not remember--and the
worse the battle was, the less they remember.