The Face of War Often Unseen

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 Zlata's Diary A Child's Life in Wartime Sarajevo is the captivating recount of the war in Bosnia from a child's point of view. Over the course of two years, a girl named Zlata held a diary recounting the horror she experienced as her country fall to pieces during war. The book begins like any diary of a young girl: friends, hobbies, interests, and social gatherings. The beginning to this novel makes the remainder of the content incredibly harrowing. The book begins to shift as she has to begin to document the horrors of war. Zlata spends much of the book asking for peace and just asking the question: why? "Why? I keep asking myself why? We haven't done anything. We're innocent. But helpless!" (Filipovic 188) Zlata is in the position for the entirety of the novel to bear the brunt of this confusing time. She is a young preteen girl who went from making plans with her friends and receiving music lessons to becoming someone who has to consistently fight for their life. This is the unseen face of war. Zlata manages to hold onto a part of her innocence and a part of her positivity. "Post nubia, phoebus, which is Latin, Mimmy, and it means 'After the clouds comes the sun." (Filipovic 166) This is the innocence only a child could hold on to. Her positivity becomes a refreshing break in the novel as everything at that point is so shrouded in concern and woe. Zlata is an example of how the children and the people become collateral for a war. The same thing was seen in Anne Frank's diary, the children and their families had to live and learn how to survive in these war torn landscapes. They are forced to bear the trauma of having to fight for your life and watch the people you love and the people that you live with die from means they can't even control. The copy of my novel also came with a set of pictures, and the opportunity to see what she looked like and to see her mother and her group of friends prior to the war really added that punch to the novel.

Comments

  1. A'Keriah PraylowNovember 10, 2020 at 10:11 AM

    I appreciate the comparison between Zlata and Anne Frank. Reading the experiences of children going through war increases empathy in readers. Many of us are unfamiliar with living through a war, so reading the accounts of Zlata has me asking the same question of why? We rarely look at how war between politicians actually effects innocent citizens and they lives.

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  2. Todd WhittakerNovember 11, 2020 at 4:20 PM

    I appreciate your emphasis on the shift in the novel once the war begins while acknowledging Zlata's positive attitude. I think the positivity and hope is what Anne and Zlata have most in common.

    I, too, noticed Zlata's questioning. She questions Mimmy as if her journal will have answers. I think her questioning is a way to remain positive. Rather than complain and complain and complain, she asks rhetorical questions. She has thoroughly thought about the war (as would anyone living it) and is just in disbelief.

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