Environmental Analysis of War Images in Young Adult Literature Using Ecopoetics: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley’s The War That Saved My Life and The War I Finally Won

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Department of French Language & Literature, Faculty of Letters and Humanities, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran,

10.22059/jor.2024.374559.2517

Abstract

In environmental literature, the natural environment is a key and active element of the story, and its role in advancing the plot cannot be denied. Kimberly Brubaker Bradley is a contemporary American author. Her two novels, The War That Saved My Life and The War I Finally Won, featuring young adult literature, revolve around the impact of war on human life and the interplay between children and the environment. Building on Pierre Schoentjes’s theories and using an ecopoetic approach, this paper examines war impacts on the relationship between humans and the environment This study, grounded in eco-criticism, seeks to examine how the challenges of war and its impact on the environment are conveyed to the child. Results suggest that war, with its deadly and devastating effects on the environment, serves as a wake-up call to convey the message of fighting against the ‘other’ through the impact of modern humans, slaves of the urban industrial society, on the environment. The child of the story, a representative of the next generation, by leaving the urban space that was under bombardment, distanced himself from this environment that was a symbol of technology and pollution. Living in the countryside brought peace to his inner self and improved his relationships with others.

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References

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Research in Contemporary World Literature
Volume 31, Issue 1
April 2026
Pages 99-114

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