In his novel The Yellow Birds, Kevin Powers takes the reader into the mind of a soldier. This work evokes not only the physical strain of fatigue and combat, but also the emotional stress and long-lasting trauma that remains with a soldier even after returning from war. Powers teaches the reader about the struggles he faces when a young soldier leaves his home and family to serve his country, through the many character types he introduces to the reader throughout the novel. For some of these characters, life as a soldier is a source of disconnection, even downfall. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Among the central themes of The Yellow Birds is the feeling of exile. The circumstances of this form of exile would be war and the need for soldiers, and the young boys in this novel commit themselves for the good of their country. Exile is “the incurable gap which is established between a human being and his place of origin, between himself and his true home: his essential sadness can never be overcome” (Saïd). Soldiers who are separated from their families, especially younger ones, experience traumatic experiences that no one else can relate to, forcing these young men and women to distance themselves from society. Most notably in this novel, Sergeant Sterling forms a rupture, not necessarily with his home, but within himself. Powers teaches us that this separation formed from the exile experienced by Sergeant Sterling is equivalent to the overwhelming sadness he experiences while trying to repair this irreparable fracture. Sergeant Sterling is first introduced to the reader when Powers describes Bartle's platoon patrolling atop a roof for many hours. at the end. Sterling is in position, rifle in hand, and to stay awake, he puts Tabasco sauce in his eyes, while smiling at Bartle. This simple gesture shows Sterling's disturbing desensitization. He wants to appear to the rest of his platoon as a stronger and better soldier than the rest of them, and his mental stability is affected because of it. He takes his consciousness away from fighting and takes the opportunity to motivate the rest of the young men to do the same. His tough attitude affects how other men feel when they fight. Bartle describes how he screams during a shootout and how this puts him in the center of the murder and makes him forget what he's actually doing because his adrenaline takes control. Bartle says: “I hated him, I hated the way he excelled in death and brutality and domination. But more than that, I hated how necessary he was, how much I needed him to push me into action even when they were trying to kill me, how much I felt like a coward until to him shouting in my ear: “Shoot those hajji bastards!” 'I hated the way I loved him when I came out of terror and fought back, seeing him shoot too, smiling all the time, screaming, all the rage and hatred in those few acres, alive and spilling out in him and to through him. the exile from his consciousness creates an emotional divide that helps him excel as a soldier, but it soon becomes apparent that this particular skill, unaffected by this trauma, is not useful in any other application of the life and may cause some distance between others in society when Sterling returns to normal civilization. Sterling's ability to blindly follow orders gives him an advantage over other soldiers during the war, but he also has no regard for the outcome of his actions affecting other people around him. He