"The Yellow Birds" by Kevin Powers is a novel about modern warfare and the pressures faced by soldiers during and after the war. It is also a novel about the friendship between two men: John Bartle and Daniel Murphy. Both are from Virginia and, despite not knowing each other before enlisting, they are put together by their sergeant, mainly because they are both privates and are of a similar age; Bartle is twenty-one and Murph is only eighteen. Murph is assigned to take care of Bartle, but he doesn't see it as a blessing, instead he "didn't want to be responsible for anyone" and thought some things Murph did were "irritating." Although their friendship begins with them both being in the same place at the same time, it evolves into something much more meaningful in the ten months they've known each other. The two boys are together constantly and become each other's anchor in a totally unfamiliar environment providing "constant comfort." Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayDespite, or perhaps because of, the rash promise Bartle makes to LaDonna Murphy, promising to "keep [his] son ​​safe," Bartle feels a sense of kinship and family with Murph. He realizes that he shouldn't have made this promise to "bring him home to" her, and so he immediately feels more responsible towards her as he would have to live with the guilt of disappointing his mother. This is also a determining factor in him deciding to forge the letter addressed to her, from Murph, to keep his promise for as long as possible. The two boys have limited contact with anyone from home, and cannot describe to their families the reality of their experiences, instead giving them "reassurance that it was as much for us as it was for them", so they rely on each other for emotional support. that they would normally get from their families. As the novel progresses, we learn that Murph and Bartle do everything together and are only focused on protecting each other from everything they are going through, especially the mental stress they face due to the constant fighting. Bartle's promise to Murph's mother becomes a factor in the strength of the "brotherhood" they feel for each other as Murph becomes increasingly disengaged from the war around him and Bartle must do everything he can to try to keep him safe . This complete trust that the boys feel for each other strengthens their bonds of friendship. They know they can completely depend on each other and have someone there who understands what they are each going through. They learn to know each other, before the war; who were their friends at home, who are their girlfriends. They share care packages and become the focus of each other's reminiscences, trying to have normal conversations as they would at home so that "for a moment [they] forgot [their] difficult situation and were just two friends drinking under a tree." The powers that be often speak of the futility of war for the soldiers who fight it; they would “return to a city that had fought this battle every year.” Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times explains it as a “ride in which there is no destination, no progress,” which is reflected in the behavior of the two men. This in turn makes the men reflect on what they are actually fighting for, and it ends up being for each other, solidifying their trust in each other and strengthening their friendship. Being a soldier requires each person to have complete trust in their superiors and the “men to [their] left and [their] right.” Thisneed for absolute trust to survive intensifies relationships and consequently forms bonds between men much faster than they would in normal situations. This is reinforced by the fact that they are forced to “stay awake, under amphetamines and fear” for such long periods of time in extremely confined spaces. Bartle and Murphe exemplify the reality that war can “bring people closer together than any other activity on earth.” Studies have shown that sharing these intense situations, being under enemy fire or killing a human being, is what unites soldiers so strongly. In a kill or be killed situation, Bartle and Murph simply focus on protecting each other. The joint fear of dying and the determination not to become the "thousandth death" also bring them closer. They are both pessimistic and expect to die. They are able to relate to each other in places they can't with Sterling. Murph and Bartle understand each other more than the other soldiers and more than a normal civilian would ever be able to. They set out to achieve the same thing: they didn't intend to go and kill other people, they simply wanted to escape the small lives they lived in America, they wanted to achieve something greater for themselves. Both also suffer from PTSD, even before returning home, Bartle has to take care of the "naive, emotionally fragile 18-year-old" as Kakutani puts it; as well as having to deal with their own traumas. They spend a lot of time in each other's company and this leads them to believe that if they "stayed normal, [they] wouldn't die." Powers shares his views on survival through Bartle, stating in an interview with GQ “Why did I survive? I am clearly no longer worthy of surviving like these people.” This is exactly what the protagonist feels when he returns home without his friend. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay In conclusion, the friendship of the two protagonists in "The Yellow Birds" begins because they are forced to spend all their time together. Over the course of the novel, they learn to rely on each other for emotional support, for camaraderie, for family bonds. Friendships like theirs are born from facing death together, fighting side by side. Murph seems as alive in Bartle's mind when he died as when they were together in Iraq. At night he dreams of their stay in Iraq, dreaming “Murph was there, Murph and me.” Works Cited Kakutani, M. (2012, September 10). In Iraq, two friends linked by fear and disillusionment. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/books/in-iraq-two-friends-bonded-by-fear-and-disillusionment.htmlKoenig, R. (2015). Bartle and Murphy's friendship in Kevin Powers' The Yellow Birds. In D. Mohr & P. ​​Wolfgang (Eds.), Kevin Powers: A critical companion (pp. 23–32). University of South Carolina Press.Levasseur, S. (2015). Living in Trauma: Surviving the Battlefield in Kevin Powers' The Yellow Birds. In D. Mohr & P. ​​Wolfgang (Eds.), Kevin Powers: A critical companion (pp. 50–62). University of South Carolina Press. Malmgren, C. (2017). “His son's memory was a phantom limb”: Grief and trauma in Kevin Powers' The Yellow Birds. Criticism: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, 58(2), 138-148. doi: 10.1080/00111619.2016.1154683 Mertens, S. (2014). Survival, friendship and the trauma of war in Kevin Powers' The Yellow Birds. English Short Story Journal, (62), 91-104. doi: 10.4000/jsse.1499Monroe, J. (2016). Psychological survival strategies in contemporary war fiction. Journal of War and Cultural Studies, 9(1), 57-70. doi: 10.1080/17526272.2015.1137108Powers, K. (2012). The, 5(2), 51-66.