Genre
Historical Fiction
Setting and Context
Different cities in Iraq, during the Iraq War (2005-2009)
Narrator and Point of View
The narrator is a first person though unknown.
Tone and Mood
Colloquial, empathetic
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist: Soldiers at war; Antagonist: the enemies (Iraqis), the war itself
Major Conflict
Soldiers face internal and external conflicts. Internal conflicts include mental problems that occur during war, especially what happens to them emotionally and physically from the war. External conflicts include the war itself and contact with Iraqis, and also conflicts between people on the same side.
Climax
N/A
Foreshadowing
N/A
Understatement
"It'd be cool to get IED'd" This is an understatement because gettting IED'd is very dangerous and could kill.
Allusions
There were several allusions to Mad Max because it constantly reminded the soldiers of what they are. Mad Max consisted of situations similar to what the soldiers are facing in the war.
Imagery
On page 15 and 16, the narrator says: "Your body is mostly water, so a bullet striking through is like a stone thrown in a pond. If I were to shoot you on either side of your heart, one shot...and then another, you'd have two punctured lungs, two sucking chest wounds....The ripples tear up your heart and lungs and you don't do the death rattle, you just die.". This is accurate imagery of what happens when the trigger of a gun is released until it goes inside the body that makes the reader grasp a vivid image of what happens.
Paradox
On page 75, "I will remember PFC...So I won't really remember PFC"
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
The message began (...), and got uglier from there. Page 102
