“The people must be the ones to win, not the war, because war had nothing to do with humanity. War is inhumane.” (Filipovic, 1994, p. 33) Zlata Filipovic has been through more in just her childhood than most people will in their entire lives. No child should have to see what Zlata saw, live what Zlata lived. Witnessing this war was unimaginable until reading Zlata’s Diary. Zlata was only eleven years old when she started writing in her diary that documented her experiences during the Bosnian Conflict. The Bosnian conflict was the ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims from Bosnia. The push factor of the conflict drove Bosnian Muslims out of Bosnia. There was often violence in the process since ethnic cleansing uses the same methods as genocide.
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Zlata emphasizes the current state of her people when she says “Window sills and balconies have been turned into vegetable gardens. Flowers have been replaced with lettuce, onions, parsley… ” (Filipovic, 1994, p. 139). Zlata is no exception to this lack of food. Throughout the book, her hunger grows along with her agitation with the war. Because of this, Zlata learns to not take food for granted. This is something Zlata will take with her for the rest of her life. No one should have to witness an environment of a war, let alone an innocent …show more content…
Zlata has seen things that no child should have to see, let alone live through. She witnessed shellings just across the road from her home, seen her friends’ deaths, and utter chaos throughout her once peaceful home. She wet from listening to Madonna and watching MTV with her friends to having to retreat to a safe house every night to escape from the bombings. Zlata expresses her knowledge of this when she exclaims “Boredom!!! Shooting!!! Shelling!!! People being killed!!! Despair!!! Hunger!!! Misery!!! Fear!!! That's my life! The life of an innocent eleven-year-old schoolgirl!! A schoolgirl without a school, without the fun and excitement of school. A child without games, without friends, without the sun, without birds, without nature, without fruit, without chocolate or sweets, with just a little powdered milk. In short, a child without a childhood.” (FIlipovic, 1994, p. 61) This quote from Zlata shows how her perfectly normal childhood was flipped upside down. Her expectations for her childhood were shattered. Everything she wished she could have done and aspired to was taken from her by this terrible war. One aspect of living a fulfilled childhood is getting to make friends and build relationships within a school environment as well as furthering an education. Her world almost seems upside down. Her life used to be full of popular culture as in the first few
Zlata emphasizes the current state of her people when she says “Window sills and balconies have been turned into vegetable gardens. Flowers have been replaced with lettuce, onions, parsley… ” (Filipovic, 1994, p. 139). Zlata is no exception to this lack of food. Throughout the book, her hunger grows along with her agitation with the war. Because of this, Zlata learns to not take food for granted. This is something Zlata will take with her for the rest of her life. No one should have to witness an environment of a war, let alone an innocent …show more content…
Zlata has seen things that no child should have to see, let alone live through. She witnessed shellings just across the road from her home, seen her friends’ deaths, and utter chaos throughout her once peaceful home. She wet from listening to Madonna and watching MTV with her friends to having to retreat to a safe house every night to escape from the bombings. Zlata expresses her knowledge of this when she exclaims “Boredom!!! Shooting!!! Shelling!!! People being killed!!! Despair!!! Hunger!!! Misery!!! Fear!!! That's my life! The life of an innocent eleven-year-old schoolgirl!! A schoolgirl without a school, without the fun and excitement of school. A child without games, without friends, without the sun, without birds, without nature, without fruit, without chocolate or sweets, with just a little powdered milk. In short, a child without a childhood.” (FIlipovic, 1994, p. 61) This quote from Zlata shows how her perfectly normal childhood was flipped upside down. Her expectations for her childhood were shattered. Everything she wished she could have done and aspired to was taken from her by this terrible war. One aspect of living a fulfilled childhood is getting to make friends and build relationships within a school environment as well as furthering an education. Her world almost seems upside down. Her life used to be full of popular culture as in the first few