“War Crimes” is a shocking, revealing and confronting text. It challenged a lot of my own experiences and, furthermore, a lot of society's values ​​and beliefs. “War crimes” have the ability to open our eyes to a large number of issues, which most of us are not exposed to in our daily lives, including Iraqi culture and beliefs, media promoting issues of racism , xenophobia and misogyny and global politics. conflicts like war. I found a lot of it confronting, but also eye-opening and interesting. After reading it, I was shocked by some people's attitudes towards others, particularly the xenophobia explored in the text. Throughout the text, the connection between global and local conflicts has been reinforced. This reflected much of the main characters' values ​​and attitudes through their responses to conflicts and, in turn, allowed readers to see and identify with certain characters. In particular, I was able to relate to Jade, Jordan, Ishtar, and even Rick to some extent. I felt like Jade was a symbol of peace and empathy, especially in contrast to the war-saturated society they lived in. “Imagine hundreds of years ago, seeing these white people sailing around the headlands in their ships.” Jade is much more morally aware than the others, she is able to see things from different perspectives and has a respect for other cultures. In a society where many people are afraid of racial difference, this was something admirable. She also wants to appear tough, but throughout the text she was perceived differently. “We can be sisters…We can share my room” and she made emotional connections with and cared for her peers. Betzien portrayed her as a hard worker because she... middle of paper ... she is racist. His masculinity and selfishness may be another factor that discourages us, as readers, from identifying with Lara. Additionally, there were two scenes that I found exceptionally difficult to read. The first scene in which Jade is raped, and the scenes that follow in which thoughts and memories of the rape resurface and the scene in which Samira douses herself in gasoline. These scenes depict dark scenarios, which we as a society are not exposed to much. This reinforces the shock and horror we feel as readers and makes it difficult to read and understand. In conclusion, “War Crimes”, although it was a difficult read, it was also worth it. I was able to learn a lot from this text about issues such as racism, global and local conflicts, and adolescent relationships in a society like Cummergunji's...