not have normally. The destruction of the village does not bring Lavender back or even make Cross feel better, but it shows how death can alter behavior with power. Guilt can cause people to change actions or thoughts very rapidly. It does this because guilt makes the person regret how they ignored their values or ideals and the change comes from wanting to not repeat the misjudgment of their actions. The involved changes to relieve guilt are modifications of behavior. The modifications can be a change in one’s values or ideals on life or they could be a change in actions that they have been doing. In the story Lieutenant Cross makes both of the changes after the death of Lavender. He changes his values by acknowledging that Martha was not in love with him and now he would not be in love with her and he also burnt the pictures and letters so he was not looking at them anymore. The guilt that they all felt altered how they acted. Some of the men made jokes about tense situations that were not funny because joking made them feel better. The situation grew lighter by laughter, even though the men knew nothing was funny about their situation, and this knowledge made them feel guilty about their insensitive acts because it violated their values. The way the men dealt with their guilt was by passing the blame or trying not to think about how wrong it was, even though they knew. These kinds of strange reactions to normally tense or tragic situations are a way to ease the fear of death.Anxiety about death follows the men everywhere they go and they have many different ways to disguise their fear and many ways to defend against it. The men were ready for everything in the war: they had their radio to call in help, their guns to defend against enemies, and their pride and dignity to disguise fear. Disguising fear is very hard because it is such a strong emotion. Great fear is impossible to hide as evident by the actions of the ...
