Critical Reading — socrateslee13

“Is PTSD Contagious?”

“Brannan Vines has never been to war. But she’s got a warrior’s skills.”

Who is Brannan Vines and because of her lack of war experience how is she able to have skills of a warrior. Also, in terms of skills which skills in particular does the author believe Brannan Vines has and where did Brannan Vines get these skills from.

“Skills on the battlefield, crazy person behavior in a drug store”

What makes Brannan Vines behavior considered crazy.? From this statement the author transitions from speaking about the skills Vines posses to how she behaved like a crazy person in a drug store but not everyone can agree on every subject, so how does the author know what is considered crazy and what is not.

“Her nose starts running she’s so pissed, and there she is standing in a CVS, snotty and deaf with rage, like some kind of maniac, because a tiny elderly woman needs an extra minute to pay for her dish soap or whatever.”

Why does the author portray Vines in such a way using the phrase, “like some kind of maniac” as if to imply Vines was a psychotic person. Further more how does she know if the elderly woman is tiny or not. What if during the situation the elderly woman was around the same height as Vines would that change some readers perspective? By stating the elderly woman was tiny was the author trying to pursue the readers to think to that because the elderly woman was tiny it made Vines reaction worse.

“Caleb has been home since 2006, way more than enough time for Brannan to catch his symptoms”

How is that time frame more than enough time for Brannan to catch for Caleb’s PTSD symptoms? Which symptoms did Brannan catch from Caleb and how do we know if she caught them from Caleb instead of them developing on their own from her experiences in life. By this statement is the author trying to imply that Brannan caught Caleb’s symptoms? What happened within the time Caleb came back in 2006 until now for Brannan to catch his symptoms. Did Brannan catch Caleb’s symptoms while they were spending time together such as talking with each other, interacting with each other throughout the day or simply whenever Brannan observes or sees Caleb react a certain way to a particular situation.