Juxtaposition In The Yellow Birds

Everyone makes mistakes whether he is young, old, child, or adult. Some are faced with harder, more serious and, possibly life-changing decisions. Two great examples of individuals who were faced with many life-changing decisions are Bartle and Sterling, characters from the book The Yellow Birds, which was written by Kevin Powers. These two are soldiers in battle accompanied by a memorable man, and fellow comrade, Daniel Murphy. The reader finds out that Daniel Murphy, Murph in short, was brutally murdered at the end of the book. Bartle and Sterling find Murph’s mutilated body and decide to burn the crime scene and send his body down the river (Powers 210-211). Why did they do it? Was covering up Murph’s death the

The true horrors of World War I are difficult to convey through traditional written word. David Malouf’s Fly Away Peter is a novella which uses relatable characters and stereotypes to provide a window for audiences to engage with warfare. This is enhanced by an array of poetic and descriptive language with vivid imagery to truly channel the anguish and confusion of soldiers in war to the audience. Juxtaposition is Malouf’s greatest asset, along with religious symbolism and allusion add subtext to the novella. These techniques allow Malouf to condemn war, create a novella of dualities and illuminate the true meaning life.

The author creates a neutral and sympathetic tone addressed to the reader about the setting and situation of the book. The reader already knows about the state of devastation Iraq was in due to war, but the author uses a sympathetic tone towards the soldiers to show that they are worn down and can not be in a state of relax. In the book, Birdy says, “..I kept reaching for the weapon I had left in Baghdad” (Chapter 14 pg 193). The author describes his mentality through his statement as a way of defense as he impulsively grabs for his weapon in what the reader can infer as fear. The author uses a sympathetic tone towards soldiers like Birdy to show how the war has affected their attitudes.

David Malouf's novel ‘Fly Away Peter’ charts out the life of protagonist, Jim Sadler. Jim Sadler starts the novel as an innocent young man who lives on the Coast of Queensland. As Jim shows his love and appreciation for birds, he ends up getting a job at a sanctuary owned by Ashley Crawthaw. His job was to watch for the birds that migrated to and from the sanctuary. Throughout the novel the readers are taken on the journey that Jim faces, from the innocence of a young adult to the horror and brutality of the war. At the beginning of the novel the audience is introduced to Jim while he is gazing in the far distance to where the swamp ended and the farmlands began(Malouf, D. Pg.1). Jim’s love for birds was strong, everything about them just amazed him - he could sit for hours and watch them while naming each as he proceeded into the day. By being in the sanctuary, Jim is protected from the harsh reality of the outside world. Having grown up in the country, he is oblivious to how cruel the world is. Once exposing himself to the outside world and goes to the town centre, without much awareness regarding the war, he feels pressured to join the War Effort. Jim is aware of the need to extend his experiences within life and acknowledges the changes that war will certainly bring. On Jim’s arrival to the trenches he is hit with the harsh reality he thought he would never understand. Being so distant from the

A person’s perception of anything is always influenced by their experiences. Alice Walker, the writer of “Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self”, is no different in regards to her perception of beauty. Walker uses various stylistic elements throughout her writing to convey her shifting outlook toward her own beauty. She also employs various rhetorical strategies in order to deliver a clear and luring story that keeps the reader engaged as she describes her life as a flashback. Walker uses the accident that happens during her childhood to prove that one’s mindset can be altered because of a profound experience and how her attitude completely transforms from a conceited and arrogant child into a newly reborn woman who sees a new kind of

The Viet Nam War has been the most reviled conflict in United States history for many reasons, but it has produced some great literature. For some reason the emotion and depredation of war kindle in some people the ability to express themselves in a way that they may not have been able to do otherwise. Movies of the time period are great, but they are not able to elicit, seeing the extremely limited time crunch, the same images and charge that a well-written book can. In writing of this war, Tim O'Brien put himself and his memories in the forefront of the experiences his characters go through, and his writing is better for it. He produced a great work of art not only because he experienced the war first hand, but because he is able to convey the lives around him in such vivid detail. He writes a group of fictional works that have a great deal of truth mixed in with them. This style of writing and certain aspects of the book are the topics of this reflective paper.

Often times war is depicted in a victorious, triumphant manner when in reality war is chaotic; full of destruction and death. In Stephen Crane’s “A Mystery of Heroism” and Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge,” we witness the harsh reality of the war and the common human reaction to the havoc. Fred Collins simply wants water, but the well is on the other side of the battlefield. Peyton Farquhar, a loyal civilian to the South, just wanted to help in the war but instead was hanged for his good-intentioned attempt to destroy the bridge to help the Confederates. Ambrose Bierce and Stephen Crane wrote “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge” and “A Mystery of Heroism” to show the natural human condition in adverse situations.

Since the beginning of time, humans have sought after power and control. It is human instinct to desire to be the undisputed champion, but when does it become a problem? Warfare has been practiced throughout civilization as a way to justify power. Though the orders come directly from one man, thousands of men and women pay the ultimate sacrifice. In Randall Jerrell’s “The Death of a Ball Turret Gunner”, Jarrell is commenting on the brutality of warfare. Not only does Jarrell address the tragedies of war, he also blames politics, war leaders, and the soldier’s acknowledgement of his duties. (Hill 6) With only five lines of text, his poems allows the reader to understand what a soldier can go through. With the use of Jerrell’s poem, The Vietnam War, and Brian Turner’s “Ameriki Jundee”, the truth of combat will be revealed.

The collection of poems “Theater”, “Water”, and “Safe House” by Solmaz Sharif shows the varied viewpoints of how war affects the speakers and how death is all too common in the midst of warfare. The author uses a spectrum of literary techniques to enhance the experience of the reader, so we can fully grasp the severity of each speaker’s plight. All of Sharif’s poems differ in form with the use of white space and indentations in “Theater”, colons in “Water”, and a style of abecedarian using the letter S in “Safe House”. While her diverse use of forms generate different emotions from the reader, they share the same notion of how violence is problematic. Each poem has a unique outlook to the sight of war: “Theater” being in the position of a victim and an assailant of war, “Water” explaining a war mission and fatalities in terse terms, and “Safe House” as an observer of an activist against war. Sharif’s strategy to exemplify the effects of how war affects the victim and the civilian is particularly critical because mass media tends to hide the collateral damage of war and only illustrates why we should attack the “enemy”. Another approach the author uses to critique the speakers central conflicts is by arranging words from the US Department of Defense 's Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, to concur with the message of the several ways war influences the lives of those who are unwillingly encompassed by it. Sharif uses poetry as an outlet to show the underlying tone

The author writes the story in a very interesting way. The way that there are only a few descriptions scattered about and that it focuses on dialogue is what allows us to figure out what the characters are speaking about and to find the intentions behind their words. The subject of this short narrative stands out boldly. Though it was written in

War is an experience that many would consider brutal, horrific, and even inhumane. It is however, a part of the fabric of humanity. It has happened, is happening, and will continue to happen as long as there are humans on Earth. In Stephen Crane’s novel, The Red Badge of Courage, he depicts the time of the Civil War through the eyes of a young new soldier named Henry. Crane uses masterful imagery and figurative language to stimulate the reader’s imagination, but also to engage their mind as they envision the intensity of war and picture the reality of the circumstances. In order to do this, Crane portrays a variety of tones throughout the book, namely: paranoia, desperation, and intensity. These tones follow Henry as he follows the path of a soldier.

Growing up in hot and dry Iraq isn’t a person’s idea of paradise. But for him it was all he had known. He had been preparing to go to veterinary school, when the army knocked on his door, demanding his oldest brother come out and be drafted into the Iran- Iraq war. He was only 20 when he took up his brother’s identity, determined to protect his family, leaving them and his old life behind.

I chose to use the green and yellow pieces of paper because at the beginning of the book the author describes a green and yellow bird. I chose the pictures and words presented on the poster for several different reasons. I chose the word independence because Edna wants independence. She is tired of being submissive to her husband Leonce so she moves out. She rents a small house around the corner from her old house because she feels it will allow her to be independent and free. I chose to draw the picture of Edna standing beside her new house because I feel that is shows she is now independent. I chose passion and love because the love Edna has for Robert is passionate. He makes her feel like no man has ever made her feel before. She

The preface to the novel describes the scene of a beautiful girl lying dead on the cement, snow lightly falling all around her, swarmed by paparazzi and news reporters with big white vans. The beautifully and creatively described scene creates an atmosphere of sadness and loss, leaving us with the impression that this girl was important to the world. It ends by saying that the tragic death we just received was a suicide; this mysterious beauty’s struggle with mental health eventually pushed her over the ledge, metaphorically and literally.

“Nothing will end war unless the people refuse to go to war”, Albert Einstein. Stephen Crane, the author of “War is Kind”, had no experience with war; that was until the Spanish-American War, where he became a foreign war correspondent. “Dulce et Decorum Est”, was written by Wilfred Owen; Owen survived as a foot soldier during World War I and lost his life fighting for his country. The author of The Things They Carried, was Tim O’Brien who served in the Vietnam War. The final writing was The Yellow Birds, it was written by Kevin Powers after he served terms in the Iraq war. All of these authors use imagery, irony, and structure to protest war.