The Issue Of Friendship In “The Yellow Birds” By Kevin Powers
Kevin Powers novel ‘The Yellow Birds,’ deals with modern warfare and soldiers’ pressures during and after war. It is also a book about a friendship between John Bartle’s and Daniel Murphy’s. Bartle, who is 21 years old and Murph only 18 years old, are both Privates. Their Sergeant puts them together despite the fact that they didn’t even know eachother before they joined. Bartle is given Murph to take care of, but Bartle does not consider this a good thing. He “didn’t really want to be in charge of anyone” and found some things Murph said “irritating”. The friendship between Bartle and Murph began because they were both at the exact same place in time. However, in just ten months of knowing each other it has evolved into something far more important. The boys have been together for ten months and are “a constant comfort”.
Bartle’s sense of family is strengthened by the promise made to LaDonna to “keep [her] safe”. He realizes that this promise was a mistake and he feels responsible for Murph. It is this feeling of guilt that drives him to fake the letter from Murph to his mother in order to fulfill his promise. They are not in contact with anyone at home and can’t tell their family the truth of what they have been through. So they offer “assurances” that were meant for both them and themselves.
The novel shows us that Murph, Bartle and their mother are all in it together. They do everything to protect each other and deal with the stress of the constant war. Bartle’s pledge to Murph’s Mother is key to the bond of brotherhood that they share as Murph loses interest in the war. Bartle will do anything to protect him. This trust between the boys strengthens the bonds of their friendship. They are able to rely on one another and know there is someone in the room who can understand what they’re going through. They find out about each others lives before war. Their girlfriends and friends at home are revealed. They exchange care packages and share their memories, while trying to talk like they would back home.
Powers frequently talks about war’s pointlessness for the soldiers that fight it. They “would return to a battle-scarred city every year”. Michiko Kakutani, a reporter for The New York Times explained that this is “a loop where there isn’t a destination or progress”, and it is reflected through the behaviour of these two men. The men then reflect on the reason they fight, which is for eachother, strengthening their trust and friendship. As a soldier, you must trust your superiors and the men on either side of you. Due to the need for trust, men develop bonds faster in these situations. The men must “stay awake, on amphetamines or fear” for so many hours in very small spaces. Bartle’s and Murph’s experiences demonstrate that war is a powerful force for bringing people together.
In studies, it has been shown that the intense situations soldiers face, like being shot at by an enemy or killing another human, are what binds them together. Bartle, Murph and their team simply concentrate on each other’s safety in a situation where they are either going to die or get killed. They are also drawn closer by their fear of death and desire to avoid becoming the “thousandth victim”. Both of them are pessimistic about the future and expect death. Sterling was unable to connect with them. Murph Bartle can relate to each other much better than any other soldier or civilian. They had similar goals: not to kill others, but to escape from their small American lives and to do something better for themselves. Bartle is also suffering from post-traumatic syndrome, and Kakutani says that he has to care for the “naive 18-year-old”. He must also deal with his personal traumas. The two spend so much time together that they believe they will not die if “they” remain “ordinary”. Powers’ views on his own survival are shared by Bartle in an GQ Interview. “Why have I survived?” he asks. I’m obviously not as worthy to survive as these other people”. The protagonist is feeling this exact way when he returns to his home without his best friend.
The two protagonists of ‘The Yellow Birds,’ form a friendship because they have to spend their entire time together. Through the book, they come to learn that they can rely on one another for emotional support and camaraderie. Their friendships are formed by facing death side-by-side and fighting together. Bartle still remembers Murph as if he were there in Iraq. He dreams of their time together in Iraq. “Murph, Murph, and I were there”.
