Korean War Ends in Tearful 3-Hour Finale

[AKA]

I love The Onion.

[Vicki L.]

Clever posting there with the news article. But speaking of GFA it is believed by some that Hawkeye's whole vision of the murdered baby was just a mental delusion of his. Supporting this idea is that the other characters (like BJ, Hot Lips, and Mulcahy) who also witness the kid's murder aren't traumatized as well. So maybe they never really saw the kid get killed.

[Doo Dah 16]

Then what would have caused the incident and made him imagine it? Whatever it was had to just happen to him.
Everyone probably saw it. I think it didn't affect the others (not B.J., surprisingly, as he has a kid of his own) because he was one of the people at the MASH the longest, he felt responsible for telling the mother to make the baby stop crying (though she still would have done it) and he had seen too many children wounded directly by the enemy, but a mother killing her own baby caused a breakdown because he didn't want to believe it. Normally the children he worked on would live. They were just hurt badly. Hawk could fix it all. Here, he couldn't even try. It wasn't damage by the enemy. The best choice was the baby's death. An evil Catch-22. There was nothing else to do. It upset Hawkeye and he couldn't stand death or thinking about it knowing that. He hated the war and it's toll.
Anyone would suffer, but that added to anger at it all would lead to such behavior. I don't think Hawkeye was very stable to start with. Past psychiatric experiences of his led me to that conclusion.

As you all can probably tell, I enjoy debates.

[Vicki L.]

If you notice the details of Hawk's story about the bus beach trip keep changing. It is possible that Hawk was actually with another mash unit at the time temporarily when it happened. And he later just wrongly remembered the 4077th gang being with him at the time of the tragic occurance. But getting back to the mental delusion bit, Hawk has seen a lot of war horrors. And he was known to both walk in his sleep and visualize things that aren't there (remember when he wakingly visualized Lt. Dish with no clothes on?)and Hawk drank alcohol a lot. It could've been either a delusion or a dream.

[Doo Dah 16]

If you notice the details of Hawk's story about the bus beach trip keep changing.

Nah, I think it was his memory forcing itself into his concious thoughts. He was trying to block it by making it something different. The horror was such a reality.....it's like trying to forget something stuck in your head-it's not wanted but it stays there no matter how hard you try to forget it.

It is possible that Hawk was actually with another mash unit at the time temporarily when it happened. And he later just wrongly remembered the 4077th gang being with him at the time of the tragic occurance.

Hmm...possible. I don't know why he'd want to change that...

It could've been either a delusion or a dream.

If it were a dream, created by his subconcious, it probably wouldn't cause such a shock as to alter his perception on things.

he wakingly visualized Lt. Dish

That was on purpose.

[Vicki L.]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Doo Dah 16
[B]Nah, I think it was his memory forcing itself into his concious thoughts. He was trying to block it by making it something different. The horror was such a reality.....it's like trying to forget something stuck in your head-it's not wanted but it stays there no matter how hard you try to forget it.
Hmm...possible. I don't know why he'd want to change that...
Well, it's not that he wanted to change but recovering from shock or whatever he could've accaidentally inserted people he knew very well into the memory instead of folkjs he hardly knew at all. Also, the story could have been somewhat seen through Sydney's mind and thoughts of what was going on according to Hawk's description. Furthermore, BJ is way too kid loving to have seen a baby get killed and not be heavily traumatized (even if he didn't cause the kid's death). He was not really there. And ditto for Margaret and Mulcahy (who were all also supposed to be present at the killing of the baby).

[Doo Dah 16]

seen through Sydney's mind

Very possible. I'll watch the episode again (if I can find it).

accidentally inserted people he knew very well into the memory instead of folks he hardly knew at all.

Yeah (though I don't know what would cause that), but made up the fourth of July thing? Not likely. If those previous events were truly happening, that would make him with people he knew.

BJ is way too kid loving to have seen a baby get killed and not be heavily traumatized

I agree. Still, he might have not been looking-there were other wounded on the bus. Even if he was, though it would still be traumatizing, it would not be to the extent as for Hawkeye (see reasons in my first post).