Comparing Turner and Benedict's Portrayal of War

In comparing the ways in which war is portrayed in two distinct works, these being Sand Queen by Helen Benedict and Here, Bullet by Brian Turner, we can see that there are similarities and differences. The similarities can be seen in the realities that both authors draw upon in their works. Both authors attempt to write realistically about the Iraq war and specifically, how it affects the American soldiers. They both go into some detail about how the war is affecting the soldier’s psychology, daily lives, and overall health.   

            In comparing the ways in which war is portrayed in two distinct works, these being Sand Queen by Helen Benedict and Here, Bullet by Brian Turner, we can see that there are similarities, but more differences. The differences stem from several fundamental differences regarding the mediums the authors choose to write within. Sand Queen is a novel, and Here, Bullet is a work of poetry. In addition, because it is a novel Sand Queen moves in a story that follows the lives of two young girls. One girl is an American soldier who was deployed in Iraq. Much of the novel deals with her struggles as a female in a male dominated military force, and how he is able to overcome said struggles. The other girl is an Iraqi girl form Baghdad who was forced to flee because of the dangers of the war. She misses her family and friends and her struggle comes from being forced to watch her home become a war zone. Here, Bullet is a book of poetry composed of many short one-page poems. The poems are not particularly related, but they all deal with some aspect of the Iraq war, although much more time is spent on the psychological affects of war on soldiers and the varied emotional landscape that soldiers in Iraq suffer through daily.