Nick Adams' Journey to Psychological Healing

We all understand what PTSD is and how it can really affect a person. Back in WWI, it was coined shell shock and no one really would give a great deal of attention to theses mentally weak persons. This story of Nick can be taken two ways: as just a narrative of him going on a hike and then fishing after wards halting by a swamp to end his trip or its that journey Nick's mental state goes through to find enlightenment from his burnt past to the happiness he finds in his natural home to facing his psychological dark side that is in front of him. I could go on about this story. in fact about six pages worth, but I'll focus more on the burnt state Nick's mind is in a destroyed state. "There was no town, nothing but the rails and the burned-over country...the one street of Seney had not left a trace." So you get the sense that Nick starts burnt because of the war in which his past was unrepairable. The most important part about his burnt state-of-mind, Nick moves on. He's strong enough to go from his burnt mental condition to try and find happiness in nature.