The war and changing the world

Analytical Essay:

War is dense. It pulls at the mental and physical stability of a person until they are constantly running off of an adrenaline rush in order to survive the intense circumstances that is war. “The yellow birds”  depicts this easily by constantly personifying the war, calling the air of shrapnel it’s breath, how its constant weight of death is a heavy reminder that war is patient, and murderous. Powers begins the book by saying “The war tried to kill us in the spring . As the grass greened the plains of Nineveh and the weather warmed” This completes imagery and personification of the war is continuously used throughout the book to prove a further point on which Powers decides to elaborate, on. War creates the armor of the soldier. It makes him numb to all things human, and embeds the constant feeling of survival, a life on adrenaline, a permanent fight or flight syndrome. War strips a person of their emotional connection to life due to survival, resulting in PTSD and a severe lack of empathy and room for grieving. Changing the world starts with the empathy for people, without it nothing can be changed because no one is understood. The eradication of war would create a world united in improvement and not destruction.

In a war it is said that one, a soldier is their country, that they are fighting for the very glory and victory of their own nation. However the truth to be seen is that in reality there are no winners in a war. Those who empty there guns first and find themselves with the most bodies at their feet envy the deceased, because they now live with the permanent memories of gore embedded in their minds, are called cowards if they cannot cope with the after math of their doings or admit that they might need help. How can one be able to create a change if they are not able to seek help? To find guidance and be in agreement on the problem? Instead problems are created at home. In a heated discussion with his mother Bartle says “Got dammit Mama all I fucking do is think.” After she asks him what he does in his room all day. After this statement springs out of his mouth it becomes clear to the reader the amount of agitation he is feeling, constantly on edge in the small expert of expression within a sentence to his mother. This is the first time Bartle comes home before he dies. After seeing enough, after not wanting to see anymore.

Many would argue that war is a constructive way of solving conflicts. That it has its purposes and allows the job to get done with as much gratification for its successor as possible. However the toll that it takes in the aftermath of itself proves to be far more harmful than beneficial. It begins the road to poverty from destruction people who had nothing find themselves having less than before, people betraying their countries in order to survive and dying at the hand of the war with no one to grieve their loss. “Shukran, Afwan, Qumbula, Thank you, Your welcome, Bomb. This is Maliks old stomping grounds!...We did not see Malik get killed but murph and I had his blood on both of our uniforms.... Doesn’t count does it? No. I don’t think so. Where are we at? Nine-sixty eight.” (Powers 11) The beginning of the conversation has such a thankfulness ring to it. As if Malik is of value and immediately after his death they didn’t even include them in their count of dead men, for the loyalty to their own soldiers. For the defense of their own bodies.

The soldiers will later go home to grieve in silence. To never open up their room or windows, and while The Yellow birds tells the story of two men who had died and follows them through the most painful and concise instances of their life. Without war, they could’ve kept the streets clean, help build from the rubbles that had been lost, but war has changed the world. It has turned it gray and shoved soot into the lungs of children crying for their fathers while they watch their mothers dig bodies out of the ground at dawn, while we force our children to dig cereal from a bowl before school. It has deprived those who rightfully so deserve it. War is a last breath, is a barbaric resort to a frustration for the yearning of immediate gratification.

Works Cited for Analytical Essay:

Powers, Kevin. The Yellow Birds: A Novel. New York: Little, Brown, 2012. Print.

Dahlen, Dr. Barbara Van. "PTSD / Video." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2015.

Narrative Essay:

In 1973 Richard Nixon installed a coup to take down Chilean president Salvador Allende. To be rid of the communist rule that had gained so much power for the poor people in the country. A country rigged with classism prior to his election. The coup lasted for years, and resulting in the assassination of Salvador Allende and the installment of Pinochet killing millions of communist and liberal chileans. There was a black-list that had my uncles name on it.