The Yellow Birds

by

Kevin Powers

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Yellow Birds makes teaching easy.

The American Bartender Character Analysis

At the American airport where Bartle waits for his plane back home to Virginia, a bartender shows admiration for Bartle’s participation in the war and utter contempt for the Iraqis. His simplistic vision of the war as a noble fight between good and evil is emblematic of many civilians’ attitudes, largely ignorant of soldiers’ actual experience.

The American Bartender Quotes in The Yellow Birds

The The Yellow Birds quotes below are all either spoken by The American Bartender or refer to The American Bartender. 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 5 Quotes

I didn’t want to smile and say thanks. Didn’t want to pretend I’d done anything except survive.

Related Characters: John Bartle (speaker), The American Bartender
Related Symbols: The Yellow Ribbon
Page Number: 107
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Yellow Birds LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Yellow Birds PDF

The American Bartender Quotes in The Yellow Birds

The The Yellow Birds quotes below are all either spoken by The American Bartender or refer to The American Bartender. 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 5 Quotes

I didn’t want to smile and say thanks. Didn’t want to pretend I’d done anything except survive.

Related Characters: John Bartle (speaker), The American Bartender
Related Symbols: The Yellow Ribbon
Page Number: 107
Explanation and Analysis: