The young bartender who works in the brothel that Sterling and Bartle visit shows fear of the Americans, because Sterling has attacked her viciously for no apparent reason, leaving her with a bruised eye. However, she behaves in a dignified way and proves particularly discerning when she realizes that the soldiers’ violence and drunkenness are probably signs of sadness more than a desire to harm. She seems genuinely kind, though mistrustful, and feels offended when Bartle appears to want sex after she helps him get over his hangover.
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The German Bartender Character Timeline in The Yellow Birds
The timeline below shows where the character The German Bartender appears in The Yellow Birds. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3: March 2005 – Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
...sees a man walk out the door, he decides to enter the house. A frail-looking bartender with a bruise beneath her eye talks to Bartle in German but he asks for...
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...mouth. When Sterling sees Bartle, he yells at him excitedly, then he walks toward the bartender and attacks her violently, insulting her and squeezing her face in his hand while she...
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Later, Bartle wakes up upstairs. When he sees the bartender, asks her if Sterling is gone. He is then shocked to realize that the girl...
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...toward the house, where he angrily asks the women sitting on the porch for the bartender. He then realizes it is close to dawn, so he returns to the base, where...
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