Stevi Maydon

Instructor: Jennifer Stefaniak

LIT 515

Comparison of Bartle and Saboor

While The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers and Khaled Hosseini’s And the Mountains

Echoed give stories of different experiences during war, they share an intention to direct their

individual story toward Americans. Powers' novel shows readers the reality of war from a

perspective that the public does not see, while Hosseini's message intends to show how there was

loss on both sides during the war in Iraq. There exists a message of dealing with the guilt that

accompanies the loss of loved ones in both Bartle in The Yellow Birds and Saboor in And The

Mountains Echoed, and, more specifically, trying to shed their pain despite not being capable of

truly letting go.  It is specifically through these two characters that both works portray a message

of truth, lies, and pain to the American reader through the use of storytelling. 

The Yellow Birds is narrated by its main character, John Bartle. Bartle was bullied in

school because of his love for poetry and literature and joined the army at a young age because

he felt it would teach him to become a man. However, Bartle feels that war is a pointless act that

leaves soldiers not only physically crippled, but mentally as well. He finds himself wanting to

become isolated when returning from war, for he feels that he doesn't deserve the gratitude that

he receives. In his isolation he is haunted by his experiences of war which include the death of

his friend Murph. He has promised Murph’s mother that he would bring her son back alive. To

protect her from having to see him, Bartle disposes of his body. It is because of this that he lives

with the guilt of lying to protect her from finding out the truth, as well as his constant thought

that he could have done something to save Murph's life. This story concludes with Bartle letting
2
Maydon
go of his memories with Murph, but because he chooses to live isolated in the mountains, it is

seen that he is unable to forget the memory of war itself.

In "The Explorations of Memory in The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers", Amelia

Precup utilizes Powers’ novel to look into the multifaceted exploration of memory as a means of

creating a space for reconciliation with the past and of coming to terms with traumatic events. 

Precup states that Bartle pervades the question of guilt throughout the novel. “The guilt felt by

Bartle is an omnipresent shadow driven by the awareness of the disintegration of any trace of

humanity. He seems to need an assertion of the possibility of human connectedness against the

cruelty of the war” (188). Because of what he did and how he did it, Bartle has lost not only his

friend, but also his soul. In hiding the truth for so many years he was forced to live with the guilt

of that. 

Bartle can be compared to the character Saboor Abdullah in And the Mountains Echoed.

As a laborer in poverty Saboor allows his three-year-old daughter, Pari, to be adopted by the

Wahdatis, a wealthy couple living in Kabul. In this novel he is portrayed as an emotionally

distant adult, yet stories from his youth depict him as a passionate teenager with a talent for

storytelling. Though he never expresses it, his decision to give up Pari in order to have enough

money to see his family through the winter has obviously caused him much pain. Reluctant to

sell his daughter, Saboor hopes that it will allow her to be free of a life in poverty. During the

journey to do this Saboor tells a story to his children that indirectly explains his decision to sell

his daughter. Through this story he emphasizes the reluctance that he has, but also acknowledges

that it must be done in order to save the family. We know little to nothing about Saboor’s inner

life, and it is after selling Pari that he becomes alienated from his other child, Abdullah. Passing

away in his early forties he is unaware of the effects Pari’s absence has on the other characters in
3
Maydon
the book but making the choice to sell his daughter results in consequences that echo throughout

the rest of this story. It is apparent that Saboor makes this decision in order to give everyone a

better life, but in doing so he is seen similar to John Bartle in that both suffer from guilt

questioning the decision that they have made. 

Bagisha Sharma expresses the viewpoint of Hossaini best in her work titled "A Critical

Study of And The Mountains Echoed: Considering the Effect of the Afghan Diaspora On

Identity”. Sharma states that in “recollecting the fable, we recognize that Saboor is the narrator,

and he is telling this story just before he gives away his daughter for adoption. It is almost as if

the fable is predicting Saboor and Pari’s brother future sadness” (239). Sharma also points out

that this is “an example of the art of storytelling as a method of transforming and dealing with

one’s pain. It is easier for Saboor to see the situation as a story than accepting the reality that he

is selling his daughter to get money for his family” (Sharma 239-40).

Even at a young age Saboor wants the world to hear his stories and wishes to "write them

down" (Hoseinni 35). His stories are not told to convey history or to provide context, rather he

does this to provide an escape and an idea of wonderment. He invents tales and embraces the

mythical aspect which allows him to make believe to distract himself from the pain which comes

with the realities in life. An example of this can be seen when he cuts down a giant tree for

firewood. Immersing a story of the tree into fiction, he tells a story of a tree with magical

powers. "If you had a wish, he said, you had to kneel before the tree and whisper it. And if the

tree agreed to grant it, it would shed exactly ten leaves upon your head” (Hoseinni 35).  

Rather than transpire actual events, Bartle is interested in the truth of the pain and

emotion. His psyche has been left a mess from the trauma of war. Early on in the story he notes

that his memory is not reliable, but that telling of certain activities is not what is always
4
Maydon
important. The reader sees this realization come to him when he reads a pamphlet on a churches

history, concluding “that there was a sharp distinction between what was remembered, what was

told, and what was true. And I didn’t think I’d ever figure out which was which” (Powers 34). 

Similarly, Bartle’s strong and emotional storytelling can be shared with Saboor’s

motivation to tell stories. But for Bartle storytelling is a way of working through the trauma and

pain and for Saboor it is more of a way to hide from it. They are each dealing with pain and even

though the pain is cause by different things Bartle argues that “All pain is the same. Only the

details are different” (Powers 70).  

When considering his youth near the Chesapeake, Bartle comes to the realization that he

must accept that he does not remember his stories correctly. This aids in helping him to move

through what he is feeling, even when it comes to memories before the war. This is seen in the

story when Bartle states, "I gave up longing, because I was sure that anything seen at such a

scale would reveal the universe as cast aside and drowned, and if I ever floated there again, out

where the level of the water reached my neck, and my feet lost contact with its muddy bottom, I

might realize that to understand the world, one’s place in it, is to be always at the risk of

drowning" (Powers 67). Saboor does not learn this lesson, as it is seen that even though it is very

painful, he does not show any visible emotion at the loss of his child. His pride keeps him from

acknowledge his pain, which would cause him to drown. 

Each character struggles with his own tragedy and pain. Bartle moves forward in life,

thinking “how what is said is never quite what was thought, and what is heard is never quite

what was said. It wasn’t much in the way of comfort, but everything has a little failure in it, and

we still make do somehow” (Powers 115-116). Saboor holds too much pain and has too much

pride to move through it. He is described after the death of his wife as speaking “now in a tired,
5
Maydon
barely audible voice. He around the village a worn, shrunken version of himself” (Hoseinni,

32).  

Both And the Mountains Echoed and The Yellow Birds are faced with the consequences

of modern wars, with stories that are less about their effects of actual war but more so about their

futures, families and the guilt that comes with those actions which results in the outcome of their

situations. Saboor does not grow or change, but rather covers the truth with beauty and pretty

stories, while Bartle creates his own meaning by telling his story to others, so that the truth of

trauma and war can be known not just by him. Both stories are also told from the perspective of

intertwined relationships about love. Bartle loves his friend Murph as he were a brother, and

Saboor loves his children so much that he is able to give one up so that they may have a better

life. With the theme of love running through these stories it is inevitable from the beginning that

this love will come with loss. A loss that causes guilt. It is through the suffering that both Bartle

and Saboor experience that the guilt that they share is seen. This guilt is due to their personal

experiences and consequences of their decisions. These decisions give us a better understanding

of what these two men have become.

Works Cited
6
Maydon
Precup, Amelia. “Reversing Absence. The Exploration of Memory in ‘The Yellow Birds’ by

Kevin Powers.” Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Philologia, vol. 62, no. 1, 2017, pp.

173–90. Crossref, doi:10.24193/subbphilo.2017.1.12.

Sharma, Bagisha. “A Critical Study of And the Mountains Echoed”. Research Journal of English

Language and Literature, vol. 5, no. 4, 2017, pp. 238–43. RJELAL,

www.rjelal.com/5.4.17a/238-243%20BAGISHA%20SHARMA.pdf.

Powers, Kevin. The Yellow Birds: A Novel by Kevin Powers (2013–04-30). Back Bay Books,

2013.

Khaled, Hosseini. And the Mountains Echoed (Marathi Edition). Mehta Publishing House, 2018.