84 pages • 2 hours read
Walter Dean MyersSunrise Over Fallujah
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2008A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Themes
War
Though Sunrise Over Fallujah focuses on the Iraq War of 2003, war itself is the novel’s main theme. From the outset, the reader finds that Birdy’s uncle served in the Vietnam War. Due to this, Birdy imagines a connection between the two men. This connection returns in stark contrast at the novel’s end. Initially, Birdy had hoped he too could have war stories like he imagined his uncle did but ultimately realizes that there are no words to explain the toll of war on an individual. Words in themselves are too light, he says. War has shown him a reality he never imagined.
When the Civil Affairs unit is being briefed on their role in the war and Operation Iraqi Freedom, the first Gulf War is also mentioned. The officers and decision-makers are certain that, due to the “successes” of the Gulf War, the enemy and the lay of the land are well understood. As the novel progresses, Birdy and his fellow soldiers find that there are no textbook answers to war. A tribal leader alludes to this when he tells Captain Coles that the first war, the hot war, was won by the American and Coalition forces. But there is still a war going on, a war between Iraqis where the Americans are vulnerable and expendable spectators. Birdy feels this to be true; the rules of engagement change every day and the army never knows whom to trust. War as a theme highlights the destructive nature of war and the toll it takes on all involved, not just the insurgents, but those tasked to usher in peace, as well.
Death as a Shared Experience
On many occasions throughout the novel, Birdy thinks about the death toll of both the Iraqis and American/ Coalition forces. In one scene, he watches Iraqi women gathering the dead and wonders about how his parents would react to his death. Birdy realizes that death is something which connects everyone, whether it’s the death of an insurgent or fellow soldier. For as many times as Birdy is saddened by the loss of a fellow soldier, he thinks about Iraqi mothers and families that also deal with loss. An example of this is when Jonesy dies and Captain Miller begins wailing uncontrollably. Iraqi women first try and console her but then join in in the wailing and lamenting. They didn’t even know Jonesy, but death is something they’ve known as well. In the end, death becomes a constant presence that teaches Birdy about humanity and the need to value life.
The Fog of War
The “fog of war” is a murky place that doesn’t follow the textbook rules of what should happen in war or combat. Instances of friendly fire and the death of civilians that crop up around Birdy and his fellow unit members while in Iraq. Birdy’s unit is tasked with going in to clean up the mess after these events take place. These events show Birdy that there is no line between insurgents and noncombatants. In essence, and as he mentions by the end of the novel, there are only survivors and the dead. Birdy and other members in the Civil Affairs unit have a hard time coming to terms with the fact that they are tasked with putting a human face on inhumane actions, such as the accidental death of children at a school in one of the villages. The Fog of War is also a tactic that those in power can use to hide behind, a convenient label that they can place on unfortunate circumstances. In this way, the fog of war” works as a coping mechanism to make people feel better about events that don’t go according to plan, such as Jonesy and Pendleton’s deaths.
Helplessness
Helplessness is a theme that can be viewed throughout the novel on both sides of the war. The Iraqis are not only helpless in dealing with the power vacuum that resulted from taking out Saddam Hussein, they are helpless in the face of constant cultural dividers as well. Children are kidnapped and people killed for their beliefs or simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Birdy makes note of this, seeing someone going to buy onions, men drinking coffee and then someone being blown up and killed a few miles away. Likewise, as the Iraqi woman who invites the squads into her home and has studied in America says, the Iraqis simply want to be treated as human beings. It’s easier said than done, however, when soldiers are being fired upon from people who look just like civilians, and in many cases, are civilians. In this sense, the soldiers also feel helpless at times in that the rules of engagement continue to change. They aren’t always sure who to trust, what tribe is on their side and who is out to cause harm. In war, all sides become helpless. Helplessness becomes a universal state that grows with the continuation of conflict.
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By Walter Dean Myers
