War is Detrimental

No matter where you are, or what role you play, war is detrimental. Not only does it disrupt millions of people each year, but there are also emotional side effects such as stress disorders, anxiety, and depression. Both Code Talkers by Joseph Bruchac and Anne Frank: The Graphic Adaptation by Anne Frank, Ari Folman, and David Polonsky display these hardships and the effect, through different roles in WWII. In Code Talkers, Ned Begay, the protagonist, is a passionate and faithful young man who plays a crucial role in the war against the Japanese by sending codes in his sacred language Navajo, that he was once forced to forget. In Anne Frank: The Graphic Adaptation, Anne is a spirited, young Jewish girl who is forced to go into hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam. Although these books take place in very different areas of the war, the two texts both show the difficulties of being stripped away of culture. The conflict around Ned influences him to take action, working twice as hard to prove not just himself, but his religion and everyone else in his community. The progressing war around Anne, impacts her as an observer and ultimately changes her view of the world and she begins to develop deeper and more profound thoughts about the chaos and conflict around her.

Even though they were not only halfway across the world, but also had significantly different purposes in this war, the two of them have experienced similar situations. Both Ned Begay and Anne Frank have dealt with being robbed of their Navajo and Jewish cultural identities, respectively. Code Talkers begins with the raucous roars and barking commands of red-faced white men, surrounding the setting with a tone of rage, as young Ned approaches an Americanizing mission school. It soon became apparent that his Navajo ways no longer applied there. “It was no good to speak Navajo or be a Navajo. Everything about us that was Indian had to be forgotten” (Bruchac, 18). This statement was drilled into the childrens’ brains throughout the first day of school. Despite the several warnings, Ned makes problems for himself worse by greeting one of the white teachers in Navajo. Expecting a greeting in response, Ned was shocked when the teacher yelled back in response, slapping his hand over Ned’s mouth. “He carried me inside to the sink where there was a bar of brown soap floating in a bucket, forced me to open my mouth, and then shoved that big, wet bar of soap into it” (Bruchac, 23). That awful experience, along with watching other Navajo boys and girls get severely punished, caused Ned to avoid speaking Navajo in front of any adult. Through the shaving of his lengthy hair, the new English names, and the endless consequences, Ned at his young age immediately adapts to this new environment and learns to suppress his Indian roots.

Like the Code Talkers, Anne Frank: The Graphic Adaptation also demonstrates oppression and persecution based on the religion people follow. This is a similarity between the two books as Ned Begay has also experienced this situation as mentioned before. This diary begins in a setting with slightly less apparent conflict, as the scenes depict a young girl living a normal life along with her older sister Margot in Holland. Slowly, the setting shifts as the Nazis begin invading the country. The riding bikes and playing outside, gradually turn to envious stares at the privileged non-Jewish, as their rights of Jewish people get stripped away. “You see, Kitty, no trams for Jews anymore. Not to mention cars….’At least we still have our bikes,’ said Margot…..Two weeks later...no bikes” (Folman and Polonsky, 11). Anne starts to realize that as the Nazis began invading, things were starting to change and might not change back to what it was like before. She begins to understand that the Jews were seen as inferior and were taken advantage of, through stealing their priorities and privileges, as well as their basic human rights. Soon enough, the family decides to move back to Amsterdam as living in Holland was beginning to get too dangerous. The Van Daan and Frank family cram into a small, secret space called the Annex. Within the first few days, it becomes apparent that there were many restrictions in this Secret Annex. “Bep and Miep from the office bring us food, but we must eat in complete silence” (Folman and Polonsky, 30). Even such things like having a conversation during the day was not allowed because they were all forced to stay quiet, in hopes of not being found by the Nazis. Being confined in a tight space builds up stress. The constraining setting piles up stress for Anne, and she ends up locking herself in her room for most of the day. As frustrating as it is, she tries to remember that going into hiding is for her own good and to put away her past, in hopes of a better future.

In Anne Frank: The Graphic Adaptation, as the story goes on, Anne eventually gives in and crumbles under pressure, although learning new ways of observation in the process. Ned, however, is the type of person who doesn’t fall under oppression, but instead rises to be twice as strong as he was before. Unlike many other bellicose kids who blatantly refused to give up speaking Navajo, or the careless ones, Ned was never openly defiant. He instead used the unfair treatment as a motive to work harder overcoming not just a language barrier, but also the doubt of others. “I began not just to do well in my classes, but to do better than any other student especially in such subjects as history and geography.” (Bruchac, 26) To the white teachers, and everyone around him, he appeared to be the perfect student. The constant, “Yes, teacher!”s awarded him a nod back or a smile. However, he, as well, was stubborn in his own ways. Learning Navajo songs or stories in the basement and speaking only Navajo to his Indian classmates was all he did when the teachers weren’t around. “If anything, rather than taking my language from me, boarding school made me more determined never to forget it.” (Bruchac, 27) Not only did he work hard, gaining the teachers’ respect, but he also was more determined to hold onto his sacred language, even while learning a new language altogether. This shows that the pressures around Ned early on is what built his inner-strength-driven way of thinking. Several years later, an astounding announcement was made, stating that the military was recruiting Navajos for a special position in the army. Hearing this, Ned starts jumping with excitement. “I wanted to become one of the proud and few.” (Bruchac, 43) Regardless of how horrible war is, his overflowing pride and outburst of devotion helped him realize that fighting this war was what he was meant to do. His passion, hard work to overcome the many adversities, and determination to prove his self worth is what kept him thriving throughout the gruesome war.

As a pacifist, it’s quite clear that Anne is a very opinionated girl. Because she is still young, and on top of that, forced to go into hiding, there’s not much action she can take to follow through on her views in the war. So instead, she writes down her strong emotions into a diary called Kitty, hoping for some kind of an escape from her demanding setting. At the start of this diary, there is a cheerful ambiance as Anne celebrates her thirteenth birthday. The setting shown by graphic adaptations illustrate a bright blue sky and a smile on everyones faces. “All I can think about when I’m with friends is to have a good time. I can’t bring myself to talk about anything but ordinary everyday things” (Folman and Polonsky, 4). Here, Anne lives a simpler life thinking about ordinary things any teenage girl would. The depictions of her past paint a perfect childhood with a loving family, even up until turning 13. This further shows that Anne is still young, and maybe even slightly naive at heart.

All in all, these two books effectively demonstrate the different struggles during WWII. Regardless of whether someone directly participates in the action, or if someone has to escape and go into hiding, both situations still illustrate the development of people through wartime pressures. In Code Talkers, Ned Begay faces the pressure and shame of discrimination upon his religion but proves everyone wrong when he earns a special strategic position in the army through his hard work to fight in the war. In Anne Frank: The Graphic Adaptation, Anne faces the hardships of going into hiding as a Jewish girl, from the Nazis. As the story goes on, the light atmosphere slowly starts to fade away as Anne begins to develop wiser yet darker perceptions on her surroundings. Although the ending of Anne Frank: The Graphic Adaptation has a certainly more unfortunate ending then Code Talkers, it truly gives us a good insight on the tragedies of the conflict at the time. What both these books teach the reader is that war can have various pressures, affecting a person whether its by making a person more determined to do better, or impacting a person mentally and emotionally as an observer.