Consider your response to the previous question and the essay "symptoms" by john steinbeck. do o’brien’s actions during the battle and his later reflections on the battle fit with steinbeck’s analysis about soldiers in war? cite textual evidence from the two texts to support your response.

O'Brien's actions during the battle in "Ambush" and his later reflections on the battle fit with Steinbeck’s analysis about soldiers in war. Steinbeck tells us that he believes soldiers that have fought in the war do not remember much because they do not want to. He claims that forgetting about the pain and sorrow the war has brought them is a defense mechanism to continue living.

O'Brien describes a similar feeling. He remembers how he killed a man who was not threatening and had no reason to die. He feels overwhelmed with regret, and claims that he wants to forget about it. Therefore, he actively pushes it out of his mind when it comes up again, proving that the idea of forgetting as a defense mechanism is a real one among soldiers.

as for symbolic actions, the narrator's tearing down the wallpaper in an attempt to find the "woman" in the wallpaper represents her struggle to retain or regain her sanity.   the wallpaper has been part of her confinement and by her tearing it down, she is freeing herself from that confinement.