An Analysis Of Girl At War

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Girl at War highlights the ignorance some Americans hold toward war due to lack of experience. When Ana first arrived in America, she eventually came to an understanding that her “time for grieving was running short. People were getting impatient. It wasn’t their fault. It was near impossible, even for me, to contain Gardenville and Croatia in the same thought” (136). This quote is very revealing for Ana because it encapsulates the idea that she has no one who truly understands what she is going through. This suggests that by Ana saying “it wasn’t their fault” (136), she reasons that these people are not “getting impatient” (136) on purpose, but that they simply just don’t have the experience to reason why Ana was grieving for so long. Even Ana, who had the traumatizing experience of war cannot fathom the vast differences between Gardenville and Croatia’s way of life. Although many Americans try to understand what the repercussions of war (such as trauma) may feel like, they will never actually come to full realization. …show more content…

This allows readers to gain insight about the repercussions of war alongside Ana. This insight is unique from an average American’s point of view of war since many Americans are indirectly rather than directly affected by war. Readers also see a direct comparison between Ana before (as a child archetype) and after she loses her innocence due to the war. Radical differences between citizens of Croatia and America are seen through the characters of Ana, Rahela and Brian. The idea that the trauma of war never ends, at least mentally, is acknowledged through Ana’s traumatic flashbacks in her nightmares. Readers gradually may become educated about some American’s unawareness of the direct consequences war. Just as Ana loses her innocence, Girl at War guides the reader to lose their innocence about what war is in America compared to other countries such as

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