By expressing sadness and depression, both Akpan and O’Brien show the emotional trauma that comes after war. In “My Parents’ Bedroom,” Monique’s mother gets killed by her own father. Everyone eventually dies and the town looks more and more deserted. Monique mentions that “There are corpses everywhere. their clothes are dancing in the wind. Where blood has soaked the earth, the grass doesn’t move” (Akpan 65). It is hard to picture one’s hometown to have dead bodies laying around and blood everywhere, especially for a child. At that age losing your loved ones is not only hard but traumatizing. For Monique and her little brother to lose both of their parents is very melancholy. Their lives have changed drastically and Monique portrays that through
