Gary Paulsen's Stop The Sun

In the story “Stop The Sun” by Gary Paulsen, Terry changes dramatically, going from a young boy thinking that there is no real understanding of Vietnam Syndrome to learning more about it directly from his father. Terry eventually learns what went down on the battlefields of Vietnam and accepts that you can never unsee what happened there. This change reveals the story’s theme that in order to become a better person you must understand what others have gone through. In the beginning of the story, Terry believes there is a way that you can treat Vietnam PTSD, but when his dad starts freaking out while at the hardware store in the mall one seemingly normal day, he starts to realize the true effects of it. Gary Paulsen describes how Terry started to question Vietnam …show more content…
In the end, Terry changed by learning to understand just how bad the war in Vietnam was for his father and that it caused his father’s suffering. Terry was brought into the cave of his father’s suffering when his father finally opened up and shared his experience of being the sole survivor of 54 soldiers. Paulson explains how this knowledge brought Terry further into adolescence, closer to true manhood and adult maturity when he says “He understood only that he didn’t understand and that he would probably never understand what had truly happened...But Terry knew that it didn’t matter...he would not be embarrassed when his father’s eyes went away...Terry had knowledge now.” This is a sign of adulthood. Accepting the unknown. Taking comfort in knowledge even though you are useless in changing an outcome. Terry knew he could change the way he treated his father’s moments of disappearing. His knowledge gave him power over feeling embarrassed about it. His knowledge gave him compassion and empathy for his father even though the situation was something Terry could not really relate