American Sniper tells the story of Chris Kyle, a Texas-born patriot who enlists in the Navy SEALs. The book details his life in Odessa, Texas, and how it shaped him into the man he was while serving overseas. American Sniper not only depicts his life stateside but also in explicit details his four tours in Iraq (1999-2009) and his combat experiences overseas.
Identity plays a huge role in this book. It’s a constant struggle for Chris to establish who he is in the world around him. At home, he struggles with being a husband and father, while being home on leave. This struggle leads to an internal struggle of duty to country vs duty to his family and it rips him apart at the seams. The book does an incredible job describing his experiences in marriage counseling and his struggles with grief, regret, and PTSD.
Power is depicted in the novel as well, through the lens of Chris as he combats evil while serving overseas. Chris Kyle, along with the United States military are depicted as guardians of the free world by eliminating threats to both active military members and civilians. This power struggle between good and evil, savage and savior.
This compares chiefly to the concept of The One and The Other. While overseas it seems like conflict only arises when the U.S military gets involved or antagonizes a cell of insurgents. This relationship is quite uncanny to that of The One and The Other, it seems they cannot mutually exist but exist exclusively in opposition to each other and can’t be justified without the other. The war in the Middle East is one of good vs evil which each believing they are on the right side thus allowing for the relationship of The One and The Other to live on simultaneously within each faction.
Some questions and ideas I think the author/creator wants the reader to take away from this literary work are can a civilian objectively analyze a situation like the war in the Middle East and make a distinction between good and evil. Another question would be, is Chris Kyle the prototype patriot people believe defend our freedoms, or was he larger than life beyond belief?
I wholeheartedly believe that this literary work inspires a conversation around identity and power because this is an issue as old as a time not just in the Middle East but worldwide, classifying conflicts and situations as good vs evil and establishing the line in the sand and seeing who stands on each side of that line. This is a phenomenal book and a captivating read I cannot recommend it enough.
