The Yellow Birds

The Yellow Birds revolves to a large degree around the theme of memory, especially since the novel deals with trauma, which can hinder and scramble the act of remembering. One of the aspects of memory that Bart seems most preoccupied with is its fallibility. In the third chapter, Bart says, "there was a sharp distinction between what was remembered, what was told, and what was true" (60), showing the interconnectedness of memory and truth. One of the things that separate memory and truth is the way memory can be repressed and/or altered. Bart says, "I couldn't remember having a life at all between that day and where I sat beneath a wall that ringed a field in Al Tafar" (79). What is interesting is Bart clearly does remember, at least eventually, because he narrates parts of that supposedly-missing chunk of his life. However, in that moment, the memory could really have been missing. When Bart is living with his mother, after his return, he reflects, "I was tired of my mind running all night through the things I remembered, then through things I did not remember but for which I blamed myself [...] I could not tell what was true and what I had invented" (135).