War Brothers

Since its creation in 1987, the Lord’s Resistance Army (See: Background) has kidnapped over 67,000 youths to enslave as child soldiers. Many of these child soldiers are forced to commit or witness acts of violence against civilian populations, further traumatizing them. War Brothers explores the experience of child soldiers and the impact these experiences have on their lives.

At the beginning of the novel, Jacob is portrayed as naïve and unaware of the dangers posed by the Lord’s Resistance Army. As Jacob informs Tony in the first chapter, “‘Kony cannot get us, you know. We are safe.’ Jacob […] had heard Father talking to Headmaster Heycoop about hiring extra guards to surround the school at night. There was no reason now to fear Kony and his rebel soldiers” (11). Jacob assumes that thanks to his socioeconomic status and seemingly secure surroundings, the army is a problem for other children, not him. Jacob’s confidence is quickly exposed as misplaced when the students are kidnapped on their first night at school, and much of the rest of the novel involves Jacob’s psychological grappling with his relative lack of experience and understanding of the dangers he is facing.

In contrast to Jacob’s naivety,