The “Yellow Birds” is a work of fiction. That is, all the characters are made up in the imagination of the author as well as the story and the things that happen in the novel. However, as the great writer Tim O’Brien states in The Things They Carried, “A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth.”
In your paper, write about the “truths” that are written about war in the novel. That is, what does the novel tell you about war? You can focus on what happens to the main characters, their families, and societies such as Iraqi society. Since the setting takes place in the United States and Iraq, you could make observations about what war does to culture. You can decide on what specific aspect you wish to focus on, but it has to address how the novel paints a picture about the effects of warfare.
