The Yellow Birds

by

Kevin Powers

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Yellow Birds makes teaching easy.
Two qualities distinguish Sergeant Sterling from other soldiers: his bravery and his selflessness. Characterized by a willingness to sacrifice his entire being to military duty and the necessity of war, Sterling is also deeply devoted to protecting the men under his authority, including Bartle and Murph. Although he occasionally seems cruel or overly aggressive in battle, these are attitudes he consciously adopts to survive and ensure the soldiers’ success. At the same time, his brutality does extend beyond the war, as he viciously attacks a vulnerable bartender in Germany, suggesting that violence might be a way for him to cope with the physical and psychological stress of war. Sterling also reveals his sensitive nature through some of his actions, such as his suicide, which suggests that he was perhaps more emotionally vulnerable than he allowed people to witness.

Sergeant Sterling Quotes in The Yellow Birds

The The Yellow Birds quotes below are all either spoken by Sergeant Sterling or refer to Sergeant Sterling. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
War, Violence, and Detachment Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

A yellow bird
With a yellow bill
Was perched upon
My windowsill

I lured him in
With a piece of bread
And then I smashed
His fucking head

Related Characters: John Bartle, Daniel “Murph” Murphy, Sergeant Sterling
Related Symbols: The Yellow Ribbon
Page Number: 1
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2 Quotes

We’d had small lives, populated by a longing for something more substantial than dirt roads and small dreams. So we’d come here, where life needed no elaboration and others would tell us who to be. When we finished our work we went to sleep, calm and free of regret.

Related Characters: John Bartle (speaker), Daniel “Murph” Murphy, Sergeant Sterling
Related Symbols: Murph’s Photograph and Casualty Feeder Card
Page Number: 37
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Yellow Birds LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Yellow Birds PDF

Sergeant Sterling Quotes in The Yellow Birds

The The Yellow Birds quotes below are all either spoken by Sergeant Sterling or refer to Sergeant Sterling. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
War, Violence, and Detachment Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

A yellow bird
With a yellow bill
Was perched upon
My windowsill

I lured him in
With a piece of bread
And then I smashed
His fucking head

Related Characters: John Bartle, Daniel “Murph” Murphy, Sergeant Sterling
Related Symbols: The Yellow Ribbon
Page Number: 1
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2 Quotes

We’d had small lives, populated by a longing for something more substantial than dirt roads and small dreams. So we’d come here, where life needed no elaboration and others would tell us who to be. When we finished our work we went to sleep, calm and free of regret.

Related Characters: John Bartle (speaker), Daniel “Murph” Murphy, Sergeant Sterling
Related Symbols: Murph’s Photograph and Casualty Feeder Card
Page Number: 37
Explanation and Analysis: