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Chapter 3
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Yellow Birds, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
War, Violence, and Detachment
Memory and Trauma
Companionship vs. Solitude
Justice, Morality, and Guilt
Summary
Analysis
One evening, during a period in which the soldiers guard their post during their day and fight over a nearby field at night, a runner brings the soldiers their mail. Sterling, who has received none, asks the runner if he has forgotten him, but the man says Sterling must not have received mail this time.
This episode highlights Sterling’s solitude—and his desire, like everyone else, to feel loved and remembers. Sterling’s devotion to the war has effectively severed his ties from civilian life, and he must learn to be on his own.
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In the meantime, Bartle watches as Murph takes off his helmet, retrieves a photograph from inside it, and reads his letter carefully. When Bartle asks him if he has received good news, Murph replies that his girlfriend has decided to break up with him. Concerned, Bartle asks if Murph is okay, but his friend seems to accept the news in a resigned way.
Murph’s apparent resignation does not mean that he no longer has any feelings for his girlfriend, but that he is beginning to accept that his current life is detached from the ordinary life of civilians, and he must learn to accept this difficult fact.
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Noticing how silent their environment is during this conversation, Bartle recalls the sounds of cicadas in Richmond, Virginia, and realizes that it must be morning back home. He remembers the day he told his mother, without forewarning, that he had enlisted into the army. Bartle feels that his life has moved straight from that day to the present moment in Iraq, and that he has not lived in between. Much later, reflecting on Murph’s death, Bartle agrees with Murph that his separation from his girlfriend did not matter indeed.
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After Murph compares the sky they are under to the one his girlfriend must see, Bartle and he chat in an innocent, lighthearted way, like children. Bartle treasures this memory of his friend before Murph became too affected by the horrors of the war. During this conversation, Bartle asks to look at Murph’s picture and see that it shows Murph and his girlfriend in a peaceful setting on a dirt track by a mountain. When Murph says that he does not blame Marie, his girlfriend, for her decision, Sterling intervenes. He says if it were him, he would kill her, and that Murph should not accept this. Murph simply replies that he doesn’t feel he can do anything about it.
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Thinking back on this scene, Bartle almost wishes that Murph had resisted more, shown a greater desire to fight for his life. When Murph puts the picture back in his helmet, Bartle sees the card that all soldiers must fill out and sign in case they are killed. He notices that Murph has checked the box for Body Recovered, and Murph comments that he did this “just in case.”
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Bartle then discovers that some friends sent him a bottle of whisky and, laughing, Murph and he share the alcohol. The two of them then admire the stars and the scattered fires in the distance, at the same time as they hear the wailing voices of women in mourning in the distance. Later, back home in the U.S., Bartle can still recall theses impressions when he lights a fire and hears the sounds of the women crying.
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The lieutenant then walks up to them and announces that the colonel is coming. The soldiers prepare their rifles to protect their building and, when the colonel arrives, they notice that he is accompanied by a reporter and a cameraman. The colonel asks all the soldiers individually how the war is going and then, while the camera is rolling, reads a speech in which he announces that the soldiers will soon have to take part in a violent battle “in the cause of good.” He notes that this is the land where the Biblical character Jonah was buried, begging for God’s justice, which the soldiers now impersonate.
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Bartle feels that the colonel is moved by pride and arrogance, as well as a lack of interest in the soldiers’ individual lives, when the colonel announces that some of them will die. The colonel then exhorts them to fight aggressively against the enemy, but is disappointed by the lack of enthusiasm he receives at the end of his speech.
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The lieutenant then explains that they will move into the field before dawn and Bartle feels overwhelmed by the smells of dead bodies and trash in Al Tafar, hoping he will not step into one of the bodies. The lieutenant explains that the enemy is in the orchard. As the soldiers all reflect on the long walking they are about to do, the colonel explains that they will drop mortars in the orchard before the soldiers get there, and that this might be the most important action the soldiers take part in in their entire life.
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As the colonel is leaving, Bartle hears him ask the reporter how the photos look. Murph then asks Bartle if he thinks this is truly the most important thing they will do in their lives, and Bartle replies that he hopes not. The soldiers are nervous and scared, and Bartle learns that this is the third time the U.S. army has passed through this orchard, fighting over this town every year. Bartle feels that this war is purposeless, as they simply engage in the same battles over and over again, without achieving anything substantial.
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Sterling then prepares Murph and Bartle for battle, covering their shiny gear with tape that will hide any reflections and trying to reassure them that everything will be fine. After a brief sleep, the soldiers are awakened by the sound of mortars. Bartle feels a deep fear take over him, typical of the feeling he gets before every battle—a sensation that Murph has described as a protracted version of what one might feel in the seconds before a car crash, when one realizes that the crash is going to take place. Bartle finds that he cannot relax his muscles or keep from sweating.
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As the soldiers prepare to go into battle, Murph and Bartle notice Sterling throwing salt over the ground, smiling and muttering. When asked about it, he only says “it’s from Judges.” Although Sterling explains that this is simply a tradition of his, Murph wonders if Sterling has gone crazy and goes to look at what he is doing. He comes back to Bartle troubled and confused, explaining that Sterling is holding a dead body and is not smiling anymore.
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