Ernest Hemingway once stated, “There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and like it, never care for anything else.” This quote describes Private Bartle’s life during and after the Iraq war in the novel, The Yellow Bird by Kevin Powers. Throughout the novel Powers describes the friendship between three men and the events the men encounter that is out of their control, and very little is understood as to why these events are taking place. Powers switches back and forth in time during each chapter, some scenes take place in Al Tafar while other scenes take place on the base in New Jersey or at home in Richmond, Virginia. Private Bartle was impacted greatly by the war in Al Tafar, while at home
…show more content…
The friendship began as a responsibility, Bartle was to take care of Murphy and look after him while at war. The role of being a leader continues to grow and the relationship between the pair grew into a complex connection. The men were learning a lot more about each other’s personal life, Bartle begins accepting his place in Murphy’s life, and learns something about war through young Murphy’s eyes (Jenkins). By the end of the novel, Bartle’s responsibility for Murphy leads up to his actions following another’s death (Jenkins). Even though Murphy was a young, inexperienced solider, Bartle was still able to learn about the war through him. Bartle learned a lot from Murphy just by observing, “And I understood why I came and why I couldn’t go, not just then at least, because one never knows if what one sees will disappear forever. So sure, Murphy wanted to see something kind, he wanted to look at a beautiful girl, he wanted to find a place where compassion still happened, but that wasn’t really it. He wanted to choose. He wanted to want” (Powers 165). Bartle learned that there was nothing wrong with wanting things while in another world with a lot more violence. He learned that just because horrible things were happening all around him, he was still able to observe the life around …show more content…
After all, Bartle did promise Mrs. Murphy that he would promise to keep her son alive. Sterling stated, “I never intended to make the promise that I made. But something happened that day Murphy pivoted and moved through the open rank of our formation, took his place in the squad next to me and looked up” (Powers 32). Bartle claimed in the beginning of the novel that he knew Murphy wasn’t going to make through the war from the time Murphy enlisted. The actual death of Murphy really got to Bartle. Bartle knew he should not have written Mrs. Murphy pretending to be Murphy. The writing of the letter to Mrs. Murphy only made matters worse for Bartle, himself. When Bartle realized that Murphy was actually dead, Bartle felt a sense of guilt for making a broken
The friendship began as a responsibility, Bartle was to take care of Murphy and look after him while at war. The role of being a leader continues to grow and the relationship between the pair grew into a complex connection. The men were learning a lot more about each other’s personal life, Bartle begins accepting his place in Murphy’s life, and learns something about war through young Murphy’s eyes (Jenkins). By the end of the novel, Bartle’s responsibility for Murphy leads up to his actions following another’s death (Jenkins). Even though Murphy was a young, inexperienced solider, Bartle was still able to learn about the war through him. Bartle learned a lot from Murphy just by observing, “And I understood why I came and why I couldn’t go, not just then at least, because one never knows if what one sees will disappear forever. So sure, Murphy wanted to see something kind, he wanted to look at a beautiful girl, he wanted to find a place where compassion still happened, but that wasn’t really it. He wanted to choose. He wanted to want” (Powers 165). Bartle learned that there was nothing wrong with wanting things while in another world with a lot more violence. He learned that just because horrible things were happening all around him, he was still able to observe the life around …show more content…
After all, Bartle did promise Mrs. Murphy that he would promise to keep her son alive. Sterling stated, “I never intended to make the promise that I made. But something happened that day Murphy pivoted and moved through the open rank of our formation, took his place in the squad next to me and looked up” (Powers 32). Bartle claimed in the beginning of the novel that he knew Murphy wasn’t going to make through the war from the time Murphy enlisted. The actual death of Murphy really got to Bartle. Bartle knew he should not have written Mrs. Murphy pretending to be Murphy. The writing of the letter to Mrs. Murphy only made matters worse for Bartle, himself. When Bartle realized that Murphy was actually dead, Bartle felt a sense of guilt for making a broken