Preview

Sunrise Over Fallujah Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
492 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Sunrise Over Fallujah Essay
This summer, I read Sunrise Over Fallujah. It was an incredible book. The book tells the tale of an aspiring soldier, fresh out of boot camp and ready to face the combat he’s heard plenty about. The soldier goes by the name Robin Perry, or just Robin, as the book refers to him as. The setting is as shown in the title, Fallujah, Iraq. The deadliest place in Iraq for US Marines and personnel in the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Robin’s relation with his squad is the primary theme that the book revolves around. The author, Walter Dean Myers, portrays the plot as a confusing, desolate scenario, from Robin’s point of view. The book echoes the thoughts and emotions of every soldier in Iraq at that time. It casts a shadow on the opinion that …show more content…
In the beginning, they fight constantly and continuously insult each other or make mocking jokes towards each other. As the book progresses, they get more and more comfortable with each other and due to multiple combat situations, depend on each other to survive. It finalizes as a full fledged friendship. It is shown how they become dependable on each other and can maintain a shoulder to lean on by entrusting each other. In war, soldiers have to worry about several thoughts, but the most worrisome topic for them is what is happening back home to their loved ones, and if he or she is cheating on them. Multiple times I have related this book to the movie Jarhead, due to its thematic similarities and comparisons on the topic of the psychological aftermath of being deployed into combat as a Marine. Both the movie and the book have their main characters, US Marines, fighting in foreign territory and suffering traumatic experiences or struggles, both mentally and physically. In both titles, the characters come to the same conclusion and the fallout is just as difficult to cope with for them. In Jarhead, the main character finalizes his experience by saying the now famous quote “We will always be jarheads, and we are still… in the desert”. In Sunrise over Fallujah, Robin finalizes the novel by hugging his squadmate and saying “Did we actually do anything out

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    A collaboration of short stories behind the scenes of an exciting era in American history. The author portrays many different point of views throughout the stories from the actual soldiers to the people who worked around the bases of Iraq and Afghanistan to the priests and chaplains that helped keep the soldiers sane. Though the book suffered slightly from its overuse of military jargon it flourished with great imagery and the clear, enjoyable voice. Also, the different point of views help correlate the different perspectives and at times touches upon Phil Klay’s personal connections to the book.…

    • 846 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The book I chose for the summative essay assignment was “American Sniper” by Chris Kyle. This book is about the courageous and thrilling memoir of the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history. With over 100 documented kills during his four tours of duty, Chris Kyle has shed light on the dangerous brave life of a sniper. During his four tours of duty in the Iraq war he has come close to death and saved countless lives. He changed a lot from just being a country boy and became what he describes as a man. The war really changed his perspective on his civilian life. The significance of the Iraq war was to help free the Iraqi civilians of their dictator, Saddam Hussein, and the radical Islamic insurgents who terrorized the Iraqi’s after the fall of Saddam Hussein.…

    • 983 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The story of Jason Poole as presented by Grady is a clear picture of the ravage of the potentials of soldiers in the face of war, and the wrong priorities of the American government in spending billions of dollars for the war that have no clear advantage for them or…

    • 1059 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Once an Eagle memo

    • 932 Words
    • 3 Pages

    1. The book I selected was Myrer, Anton. Once an Eagle. New York: HarperPerennial, 2002. Myrer enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and participated in the invasion of Guam where he was wounded and later discharged. Interestingly, he was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, not far from For Devens. This book has been described by some as an anti-war novel. Given the experiences of the author, there are understandably many real and graphic descriptions of the effects of war on the Soldier, physically and mentally. As the Foreword of the book stated, “no one who has experienced combat directly, or even vicariously, would seek it.”…

    • 932 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Joker One Sparknotes

    • 704 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The book opens with Campbell on his first day as a platoon leader. His group of men was small for a platoon at first, but Campbell soon got word that he and his platoon would be sent to Iraq in a matter of months. Due to this, tens of men were sent to him fresh out of school. The youthful Marines were newly-enlisted and inexperienced. Here, Campbell faced his first challenge: transforming these brand-new soldiers into an effective combat unit.…

    • 704 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When you enter the military, it is like being born again, and when babies are born into the world, they cry. Within the military, you are forced into a world where you have to adjust or you will not survive long. In the book Jarhead, Anthony Swofford, gives audiences an inside look on his life as a Marine during the Gulf War era. Swofford encounters life changing experiences while serving his time in the Marine Corps. He admits that joining the Marine Corps was a mistake. However, we all learn from our mistakes and Swofford has learned a great deal from his own indeed. Of the many things that he learned was the ability to cry, to be able to cope with the hardship and aftermath of the war. There are many ways to cry. Anthony Swofford found his way to cry by writing this intriguing memoir of his time in the Marine Corps.…

    • 1221 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    War forces young soldiers to grow up quickly in Stephen Crane’s immortal masterpiece about the nightmare of war was first published in 1895 and brought its young author immediate international fame. Set during the Civil War, it tells of the brutal disillusionment of a young recruit by the name of Henry Fleming who had dreamed of the thrill and glory of war, only to find himself fleeing the horror of a battlefield. Shame over his cowardice drives him to seek to redeem himself by being wounded; earning what he calls the “red badge of courage.” Praised for its psychological insight and its intense and unprecedented realism in portraying the experience of men under fire, The Red Badge of Courage has been a bestseller for…

    • 1873 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Chris Kyle is a real hero who fought a war in Iraq and at the time had a wife and two children at home. When Chris comes back from Iraq, he is a different person because of the things he witnessed at war. He is a sniper and everyone called him The Legend. In this book, the author's intended purpose was to show people the real struggles of a soldier and their family. Not only does he withdraw from society and becomes anxious, but he begins to act like a whole different person. His wife realizes this very quickly and calls him out and tells him she wants her husband back. Thus explaining that not only does war effect the soldier's every day life when they are sent back to the real world, but it effects everyone around them. When a solider like Chris returns home they don't forget everything they seen and did which leads to PTSD, anxiety, depression and other mental disorders. The author is trying to open people's eyes to how much the soldiers and their family's actually sacrifice to protect our country. People should read this book because it shows the aftermath of war and how it effects the people that are…

    • 783 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    This book embodies all of the facets that go along with love and death, during a volatile time of war. O 'Brien captures the theme of emotional conflict and how strongly it affects soldiers in a brilliant way. By correlating mundane goods with intangibles like feelings and emotion, he successfully points out all of the angles of war that the lay person generally cannot comprehend. He compels the reader to understand not just the daily grind of war, but how the little things can bring important things in life into perspective. He digs under the surface of the tangible items to demonstrate a much greater meaning to these mens lives. In essence, the soldiers are defined by the things they…

    • 1236 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fountain takes us through the sources of disconnect between the soldiers and the people they interact with during one day. The novel focuses on 19-year-old Billy Lynn and his squad Bravo, made up of seven other men that are being honored for their actions in the Iraq War. Throughout the course of this Thanksgiving Day the soldiers are being used to revive support for the war during a Dallas Cowboys football game. With each passing chapter of the book, we gain a greater knowledge of Billy’s perceptions of the war and how American people lack an understanding of the military.…

    • 681 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tim O’Brien’s, The Things They Carried, contained different memoirs that truly bring the actions of war to life for the reader. Obrien’s book expresses the real feelings a solider faces while getting ready to go into war, in war, and post war. Through his vivid descriptions the reader is able to emphasize with the emotional burdens and stresses solders must go through while on duty. We are able to observe the different coping mechanisms solders must endure, including, cutting them selves off from reality and preoccupying their mind with other, sometimes meaningless, thoughts .The chapter that had the largest impact on myself was “Night Life.” For me this passage truly depicted not just the physical, but mental battle soldiers must go through; and the extreme measures taken to relive themselves from the intensity of battle.…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Criticism In Catch-22

    • 1723 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Without struggle, life is pointless. The men in Joseph Heller's novel “Catch-22” are extremely familiar with the concept of struggle. No matter how hard they work, there is always a set-back. No matter how good it seems to be going for the men, the bad is soon to catch up with them. This novel follows the course of several men in the United States Air Force that are stationed in Italy during World War II. The vast majority of war stories rely heavily on emotion in order to convey the intended message. To look at a war story with the guidelines of New Criticism calls for the removal of any emotional attachment to the novel and purely focus on the text itself. There is no need to incorporate any background on the author or include personal reactions.…

    • 1723 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I order to fully understand the difference desert Storm and the Vietnam War, you must understand the lessons learned by the U.S. after Vietnam. Vietnam soldiers were not adequately trained to handle the obstacles on the ground. The limitations of air power were very apparent as well. In Vietnam, the high cost of substituting machines for people in combat didn’t pan out and results were not visible. With that said, I believe the biggest difference between Desert Storm and Vietnam was the gain of experience. The now accepted and revolutionized technology allows robots and remote controlled airplanes to affectively replace people. The biggest and most significant difference was the strategic planning coordinated to allow, the Air Force to successfully drop bombs at the start of Desert Storm (Morrocoo, 1992).…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The history of war is what many spend time reading about in textbooks. Few, however, experience war and all that it encompasses. David Leckie, a marine during World War II, uses his book, Helmet for My Pillow, to share with readers the truth of what it was like to be a soldier. Rather than skimming the surface of his time on Parris Island and the Pacific Islands, he goes into unmatched, excruciating detail; every trench dug, every shot fired, and every fallen soldier passed was recounted by Leckie. Setting this story apart from any other, the first-hand accounts of combat, unlikely descriptions of the day-to-day actions of the soldiers, and the heart that Leckie intertwines with each part of his story all combine to make this thought-provoking,…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jarhead Movie Review

    • 625 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “A story: A man fires a rifle for many years, and he goes to war. And afterward he turns the rifle in at the armory, and he believes he’s finished with the rifle. But no matter what else he might do with his hands; love a woman, build a house, change his son’s diaper; his hands remember the rifle.” Jarhead is not a war movie about a physical war between countries; it is about an internal war a soldier faces during, and following a physical war in which he is a witness. The main character, Tony Swofford tells his story starting at boot camp, through the first Gulf war, and shortly after his discharge; in an attempt to give the audience a better understanding of what happens within a soldiers mind as a result of being in combat.…

    • 625 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays