Session 1
Page 49
Art
Synthesis
Session 2
Page 72
Questions
- The Predatory Nature of War
In The Yellow Birds, war is repeatedly characterized as a living, breathing being that hunts those involved within it. The first notable personification of war occurs on page 3: “While we slept, the war rubbed its thousand ribs against the ground in prayer. When we pressed onward through exhaustion, its eyes were white and open in the dark. While we ate, the war fasted, fed by its own deprivation. It made love and gave birth and spread through fire.” This quote describes war as ritualistic, savage, and sinister. Kevin Powers manages to convey the enormous toll that war can take on an individual. In fact in this passage war takes on a rather negative vibe, as if the book is condoning the war that took place in iraq. (although I havent noticed them talking about all the geopolitical factors that lead to the iraq war.) 2. Loss of Innocence
One of the most prevalent themes of the novel is loss of innocence. We see this theme most clearly in Daniel Murphy’s character. Murph is an eighteen-year-old soldier who quickly becomes John Bartle’s best friend. At the beginning of the novel, Powers characterizes Murph as a young, innocent teenager that is always optimistic. However, throughout the novel, we gradually see Murph lose his morale and start to hold the same pessimistic views as Bartle. In addition, Murph’s appearance deteriorates as the war goes on, offering a physical representation of his gradual loss of innocence. Initially, Murph is described as having blond hair and blue eyes, but with time, his eyes fall farther into his sockets. This is emphasized in the hypothesis that war fundamentaly dehumanising the pepole who practice it.
Passages
"I remember feeling relief in basic while everyone else was frantic with fear. It had dawned on me that I'd never have to make a decision again. That seemed freeing, but it gnawed at some part of me even then. Eventually, I had to learn that freedom is not the same thing as the absence of accountability."
-Bartle, chapter 2
The Bartle recalls the naivety of his thoughts before going to war. The knowledge of not having to be responsible for anything seemed relieving. It is something that a young person, with not much experience, not knowing what he’s getting into, would think. Freedom Too VS Freedom From I probably nailed it on the head with this.
"It’s lovely to think that snow can be special. We’re always told it is. Of all those million million flakes that fall, no two are alike, forever and ever, amen. I’ve spent some time looking out the window of my cabin watching snowflakes fall like a shot dove’s feathers fluttering slowly down to the ground. They all look the same to me."
-Bartle , chapter 2
This shows the pessimism of a soldier that has been in the war, has seen the horrors of it. Young soldiers die, people are nothing but a number, and when they die they are all the same, Corpses are indistinguishable
Connects to falling snowflakes. Destruction of innocence
Session 3
112
Passages
"I wanted to go to sleep and stay there, that’s all. A passive wish, one I didn’t push. Sure, there is a fine line between not wanting to wake up and actually wanting to kill yourself, and while I discovered you can walk that line for a long while without even noticing, anybody who is around you surely will, and then of course all kinds of unanswerable questions will not be far behind."
-narrator (Bartle), chapter 7
If there is a fine line then that means that there is not much difference, if the line is fine then that line could easily be broken and from this it can clearly be seen that Bartle was close to suicide even though he seems to deny it. Sure you can walk the line for a long while but you are bound to fall from it at some point.
"I thought of my grandfather’s war. How they had destinations and purpose. How the next day we’d march out under a sun hanging low over the plains in the east. We’d go back into a city that had fought this battle yearly; a slow, bloody parade in fall to mark the change of season. We’d drive them out. We always had. We’d kill them. They’d shoot us and blow off our limbs and run into the hills and wadis, back into the alleys and dusty villages. Then they’d come back, and we’d start over by waving to them as they leaned against lampposts and unfurled green awnings while drinking tea in front of their shops. While we patrolled the streets, we’d throw candy to their children with whom we’d fight in the fall a few more years from now."
-narrator (Bartle), chapter 4
Bartle realizes the pointlessness of war while walking into the city Al Tafar and seeing all the decay. How their only purpose is to kill each other while not so long ago they walked among each other. It is a ridiculous and hypocritical cycle of cruelty. Characters John Bartle The main character and the narrator of the novel he was thrown into war really young. He joined the army because he wanted to become a man. He was bullied in school because he liked to read, liked poetry. To Bartle war is pointless. It leaves young men physically and mentally crippled. He feels that he doesn’t deserve the gratitude he is receiving upon returning from war, so he becomes isolated, haunted by what happened in Iraq and by the death of his companion Murph. He feels guilty for not keeping the promise he made to Murph’s mother-that he will bring her son back. At the end he lets the memory of Murph go but the fact that he ends up living isolated in a cabin by the mountains tells us that the memory of war will never leave him.
Daniel Murphy Daniel Murphy, a soldier only eighteen years old, is Bartle’s companion that dies in Iraq. He is described as clumsy, small in frame and often smiling. Opposite to Bartle, who was able to survive through the atrocities of war, Murph couldn’t handle what was happening in Iraq. After the only hope, the only compassion in the form of the female medic, that kept him somewhat sane and therefore alive was gone, he was then completely lost. |
Session 4
Page 148
Characters
Seargent Sterling
Two qualities distinguish Sergeant Sterling from other soldiers: his bravery and his selflessness. Characterized by a willingness to sacrifice his entire being to military duty and the necessity of war, Sterling is also deeply devoted to protecting the men under his authority, including Bartle and Murph. Although he occasionally seems cruel or overly aggressive in battle, these are attitudes he consciously adopts to survive and ensure the soldiers’ success. At the same time, his brutality does extend beyond the war, as he viciously attacks a vulnerable bartender in Germany, suggesting that violence might be a way for him to cope with the physical and psychological stress of war. Sterling also reveals his sensitive nature through some of his actions, such as his suicide, which suggests that he was perhaps more emotionally vulnerable than he allowed people to witness.
Bart’s Mom
Characterized primarily by the fear and relief she feels in relation to her son’s time in Iraq, Bartle’s mother proves confused by her son’s psychological trauma after the war. Although she does not impose her thoughts on him and tries to be as understanding as possible, her efforts at understanding Bartle are stifled by his own reluctance to express himself. Bartle’s mother thus remains a character marked by worry and confusion.
Vocab
listless: having or showing little or no interest
feign: to pretend to be affected by
emanate:to spread out from a source
opaque: not transparent
distraught:deeply upset or agitated
careen:an uncontrolled movement
Session 5
Page 191
Vocab & Jargon
entropy: measure of disorder, also information
apparition: a supernatural appearance
reprieve to delay the impending punishment or sentence of a condemned person
volition of one’s own will
culpable deserving blame
innumerable countless
lethargy the state of being unenergetic or lazy
reconcilation the restoration of friendly relations
goad to provoke or annoy
abrasive capable of polishing or cleaning by rubbing or grinding
Questions
Level 1: What symbolic thing is bart fighting for in this chapter. Does Bart suffer from ptsd.
Level 2: Does the symbolic representation of the orchard mean anything in the grand scheme of the book. Was the war in iraq worth fighting? Why do pepole still show support for the Iraq War despite the costs and ultimate futility of it How does the actual treatments for ptsd effect real world soldiers
Level 3: Is there anything worth going to war over, when you consider the psychological costs on the soldiers. Is innonce a concept worth fighting for. Why do soldiers fight for war even though they are aware of the costs. Do politicans go to war knowing the full costs on soldiers?
Session 6
Page 226
Art
Synthesis
The Perseverance of Soldiers
The perseverance of soldiers is a theme strongly emphasized in The Yellow Birds. It is a necessity in order to survive the war. On page 116, Powers demonstrates this theme in John Bartle’s narration of a military operation: “I kept going. I kept going because Murph kept going and Sterling and the LT kept going and the other squads would keep going and I was terrified that I would be the one who did not.” The polysyndeton in this quote (repetition of “and”) creates an atmosphere of suspense and danger, suggesting that unity and determination in these soldiers is something inspired out of fear rather than confidence. From this passage, we can also assume that this feeling of fear is not something unique to John Bartle, but is instead the fuel for every soldier’s conformity and obedience.
Murph, in the aftermath of the medic’s death, has lost it, and went missing, Bart and Sterling and the rest of the platoon go out into Al Tafar to find him. They find an Iraqi who says he saw Murph walking dazed and went off with a beggar. The soldiers continue to search and find the beggar dead. Eventually, they come across a man with a cart and donkey who directs them to the foot of a minaret by the river. Bart and Sterling go alone and find Murph’s body, seeing he’d been tortured and killed and thrown out of the minaret’s window. They don’t want to send him home like that for his mother to see, so Sterling calls the man with the cart back over, starts a fire and the three of them throw Murph’s body in the river. In order to cover it up, Sterling then shoots the Iraqi as well. The final chapter serves as the novel’s denouement, jumping several years into the future, as Bart is about to be released from prison after his three-year sentence. His time in prison has been spent trying to piece together the events that brought him to this moment. Despite proving fruitless, that realization that it is fruitless helps nonetheless. We also learn that Murph’s mother had visited Bart. The novel ends with Bart getting out of prison, getting a cabin in the mountains, and imagining the journey of Murph’s body to the sea.
One of the main themes I was thinking of this week was the costs of violence, because in the end we see the circle of violence come full circle as Sterling murders an innocent Iraqi. We see the full cycle, how physical violence causes emotional hurt, witch in turn causes physical violence. The trauma of murphs death causes sterling to murder an innocent civilian to try to sell a lie. One of the thesis topics I am considering is the cycle of violence. Violence breeds hatred witch breeds more violence. Its probably going to be my thesis topic. But it also lines up quite well with the geopolitics, one could argue that the rise of anti-western hate groups like ISIS in iraq is because of the United States campaign in Iraq. <!– I really hope I’m not treading on toes starting these… please tell me if you’d rather I waited. I am enjoying your questions and observations, Casceil, and want to hear more… am just finding myself racing ahead and wanting to get my thoughts down while fresh…
I find it interesting how poetic and disconnected this chapter is considering it’s his homecoming. It’s like the sections about the removed-from-reality war are the most real and solid, and the closer we get back to ‘reality’, the more dreamlike and unreal things become for him, which for me brings home brilliantly and subtly something about the experience of war that many accounts say more bluntly.
The conversation with the barman is also outstanding. It comes through to me very clearly that this will be a pattern for Bartle; people thinking they understand something about him, or that showing their appreciation will be appreciated, when it’s the last thing he wants. It underlines the gulf between where he’s arrived at and where he once was (and most everyone else still is). I think he also feels that accepting the man’s offer would implicitly show support for his views on the people of Iraq. What makes it so fraught is you can absolutely see that there’s zero point in Bartle trying to make him understand any of this; he’s caught between not being able to fall in with it and not being able to push back.
The imagery of him disappearing as he removes his uniform is also very powerful.
reply | flag *
Chapter 5 and 6 are all about the PTSD the soldiers are now showing. In chapter 5 Bartle is in an airport where he begins hallucinating about leaving a trail of sand behind him and refuses to let the airport bartender show any gratitude to Bartle defending our country. Chapter 6 tells that the war is getting more intense and its taking a toll on all of the soldier’s mental stability. –>
<!– 8 (Al Tafar, 2004)
After the orchard fight things appear to be calmed down with soldiers taking two day shifts and one day rest. Murph became distant and Bartle is worried about him and starts to follow him. He finds him in front of a medic station looking at one of the girl medics. Suddenly the mortars begin to fall and there is chaos. After the situation calms down Bartle reaches a chapel. Murph and another soldier are crouching and trying to resuscitate the girl medic but it’s too late. Then they carry the girl to the medic station. The sun set.
Analysis
Murph is distant and looks at the medic girl because he sees in her hope, compassion which is a rare sight there. The girl’s death is when Murph is completely gone and there is no bringing him back. He is completely broken down and his death at his point seems inevitable.
9 (Richmond, Virginia, 2005)
Bartle is living alone in an apartment. He still hardly ever goes out and he became a heavy drinker. One evening Captain from The Criminal Investigation Division comes to see him. Bartle couldn’t hide from them forever. It is brought to knowledge that Sergeant Sterling committed suicide. Captain questions him about the letter he wrote to Murph’s mother. He handcuffs Bartle and they leave his apartment. On the way to the car Bartle throws his and Murph’s casualty feeder cards into the river.
Analysis
Both the Captain and Bartle are aware that his arrest is needed because someone needs to be blamed for what happened it doesn’t matter what the truth is. Bartle throwing away the cards in the river is symbolic because it shows that he is finally ready to stop hiding, to face the truth and eventually overcome it. –> gm
