Essay On Sunrise Over Fallujah

The Iraq war fiercely changed life in Iraq and in its neighboring countries. The war started in March 2003. The united states joined the war because of 9/11: an attack of mass destruction in New York city by a terrorist group named Al-Qaeda, which killed almost Three thousand people. The united states getting involved in the war; made it worse, and withdraw from the war on December 2011. During the war, life was difficult to survive emotionally for the soldiers, especially for those who are new. The historical fiction book Sunrise over Fallujah, by Walter Dean Myers, is set in Iraq. Robin "Birdy" Perry, a recruit from Harlem, NY, showed that war needs emotional readiness. Throughout Sunrise over Fallujah, the author uses

a setting to develop the theme of surviving emotional during the war.
                   Early in the text, the main character Birdy describes his emotions during the war in Iraq.

Birdy, who is a new soldier, fears that he will end up dead during the war. He said,“Then I realized that it was the noise, the constant booming, that just filled my guts with a trembling sensation. I knew if I heard the boom I was safe because whatever had exploded hadn't hit me. But it was the idea that at any moment it could be all over, that I could be dead or lie in the sand twisting in agony, that filled me with a terror that I hadn't known before. Terror. It wasn't just being scared. It was a feeling that was taking me over. I knew it but I hoped no one else saw it,” (Myers 71). This description of   Birdy's fear develops the idea that in Iraq, surviving emotionally during the war is important to be alive.  Walter Dean Myers wants the reader

to
understand that war requires surviving emotionally. The word "Terror” suggests that recruits in Iraq don't just have fears they have extreme fear. In the beginning of the book, Birdy's feelings help the reader understand how as a recruit in Iraq in 2003, the emotions of recruits during the war makes them feel powerless.
                    As the text progresses, the setting demonstrates how Birdy figured out that surviving emotionally is everybodys’ suffer. Birdy and his squad went out of the safe zone to see what is happening there, and they were all scared. Birdy describes his environment, “At first I felt a little bit ashamed at how scared seeing the bodies makes me, but I notice that everyone in First Squad stops talking when we come on that kind of scene. We do it in public, but this is a private war,” (127). This develops the idea that Birdy is starting to understand the meaning of surviving emotionally. Not only he is understanding his feelings, but he is understanding the emotions other recruits have during the war. The author uses the phrase “private war” to show how Birdy is understanding what being in a war is emotional. In order to survive emotionally during the war, Birdy should understand what war means, and how it will affect his time in Iraq.
                   At the end of the text, Birdy have finally understood what surviving emotionally means during the war in Iraq, but he is no longer in Iraq.

Birdy leaves to Germany and understands why his uncle does not talk about the war. Birdy wrote to his uncle, “Uncle Richie, I used to be mad at you when you wouldn’t talk about Vietnam. I thought you were being selfish, in a way. Now I understand how light the word seem,” (281). Birdy now has the courage to understand what being in a war feels like, and why his uncle won’t tell him about war. The author uses the word “light” to emphasize Birdy’s understanding of war, in a way to tell that war is not described by words. He feels that he has learned a lot from this war, yet part of him is

still
emotionally hurt. Birdy has learned his lesson that war needs emotional readiness, but now the question becomes how will he pass this lesson to young new recruits like him?
              Over the course of Sunrise over Fallujah, Walter Dean Myers uses the setting to develop the idea that in order to survive emotionally during a war, recruits must be ready, not just physically but emotionally. To survive emotionally during the war, people must be ready to understand what really war means. For characters in Sunrise over Fallujah, death was a big conflict emotionally. Many teenage recruits have gained knowledge of thinking before deciding. However, there are still many ways that teenagers make decisions before analyzing the problem. The author of Sunrise over Fallujah wants readers to consider when it is necessary to fight a war