Conflict: War

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 others and themselves as humans anymore. To us, that’s almost absurd, but it’s how the war works. It’s not glorious in any way, shape, of form.