The Competitor

 Malik was a translator for soldiers Bartle and Murphy in the war. Spoiler alert, he got killed. Even though he didn’t really participate completely in the war, the enemy still viewed him as a soldier of the enemy, and he was shot and killed. Here’s the catch, he was killed right in front of Bartle and Murphy. Tragic way to die, isn’t it?  Malik was introduced right in the beginning or the story, though we kind of forget about him until later on, for obvious reasons. He was very helpful and dedicated to assisting the soldiers in translation. He was Bartles friend, companion, safe haven—whatever you will. They confided in each other. We know that they were close because Malik’s death was the first one Bartle described and told to the readers, maybe to get it out of the way because it was the most painful? We don’t really know, but it’s a pretty good guess that’s why. Something interesting about Malik is that he was from Al Tamar, which is where they were fighting majority of th...

War became both an external and internal conflict to both John Bartle and Murphy. They experienced physical, emotional, and mental challenges throughout the book. A big point in the book was when the translator for Bartle and Murphy, Malik, got shot and killed right in front of them. To them, Malik was s friend, a person who wasn’t entirely involved in killing in the war, just there to help them do the job. Mentally and emotionally, it was a toll for Murphy, but for Bartle, he evolved by this point to be numb to anything and everything that happens. He told the readers that he felt nothing when he saw Malik fall and die. How could someone feel nothing? Well, it’s because of the brutalities and violence of war. Maybe if something like this happened while Bartle was still home, he may have had a different reaction, but the conflicts of war changed him. The war took a toll on both men mentally and physically, forcing them to act as soldiers and degrade themselves and not thing of the othe...

 Memories are what makes us who we are. The certain things that we remember about certain topics shape our opinion on them, other people, and even the world. Without memories, we would all just think the same thing and have no opinions for ourselves. It also shapes our personality and how we interact and react to certain things. In the Yellow Birds, memory is a key component to the story line. The narrator constantly switches back and forth between the memories he remembers from the war in Iraq in which he fought in. From our class discussion about China and Japan, we found that memories are as important as story telling, because they are your own view and story on something that happened to you. We often are inclosed in our own personal bubble and don’t really pay attention to what’s happening around us. For example, in the Yellow Birds, women are heavily discriminated and their safety rights are being violated as they are beat and have no choice but to comply with the requests of...

Personally, I don’t mind the book; I don’t particularly love it or hate it, more of a neutral feeling.  In our book clubs, we spoke up some human rights issues in the book, like the violation of privacy and torture to women in the club with the soldiers. They were unable to protect themselves and were forced to do what the soldiers intended. There’s also some discrimination regarding that as well. You can view this happening in the book specifically on page 65, where they were getting thrown against the wall. We also touched on how we felt that the book was repetitive. I strongly agreed with that topic of discussion, because that’s how I felt reading the book. I feel as if it’s just the narrator speaking about his war experiences and random events over and over again. It’s also a bit difficult to follow, through all the changing times and such. I feel like the moments specifically with Murph are repetitive, especially when they are talking about their lives back home. I have not fi...

 I decided to take a step back and read something of my own choosing, a book I found called the Testing. It took place in the ‘future’, where America was different into several different colonies and rules but the big city. Students in each of the colonies would try to be chosen for the Testing in order to have a chance to study at the University. In order to do so, they have to pass the 4 tests the supervisors give them: written tests, team working, problem solving, and making it to the center of the city on their own over the course of 3 weeks. It was a very nail-biting and adventurous book, I strongly recommend! The author did a very good job connecting the reader to the main character’s thoughts and actions all throughout the book. I really enjoyed taking a step back from The Yellow Birds for English class and reading the Testing. It’s similar to The Hunger Games, so if you enjoyed that series, I strongly recommend the Testing!

 Hello! My name is Lauren Gumma and I love sports, hence the name of my blog! I also love music, hanging out with friends, and eating food. My book is called The Yellow Birds and it is based off of the war with the US and Iraq. A solider named John Bartle narrates the book, mainly about his experiences in the war and what he went through. It’s almost as if we are his grandchildren and he is telling us his story from the war. So far, I really enjoy the book and cannot wait to dive into the climax and main events of the book!