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...