Necessary Targets: A Story of Women and War - Book Report/Review Example

Book Review Book Review Helping women overcome problems caused by their immediate societies is an important step that reminds humanity of their purpose on earth. This is particularly critical in the days of civil war, ethnic fighting, or oppression by a system. Women deserve protection because they are custodians of generations in terms of birth and reproduction of the human labor. Consequently, the effort done by Eve Ensler her book Necessary Targets: A Story of Women and War is a remarkable and bold idea of speaking out for the voiceless. The author also reminds the world of the necessity of intervening in serious situations such as the suffering of women and their children in refugee camps because of ethnic wars as it occurred in Bosnia. Alternatively, the use of a play as an art equally demonstrates the gravity of the dilemma affecting most of the women Melissa spoke to in the process (Ensler 2001, 134). Listening to their inner stories is another example of how dialogue is effective in ensuring that the weak in society to find ways of speaking out their problems. Overall, as this paper will explain, while assisting the weak is a noble step, it should not be used to exploit them as has been done by others. Question 1 In Eve Ensler’s play Necessary Targets: A Story of Women and War, the main character appears in different forms worth noting. Melissa, the main character, in alliance with her friend J.S., explores issues dealing with group therapy. These issues are divided into sessions to help women refugees destroyed by the Bosnian War. Similarly, Melissa is concerned that the women they are tasked with assisting lack good care, homes, and a loving country. As a result, she doubts the chances of her therapy working on the women because they do not prefer the sessions. According to the main character, the women have despair and anger that cannot allow them to heal properly. This turns them into becoming necessary targets resulting to inner trauma caused by the war. Equally critical is the need for the therapy to help improve the situation affecting most of the victims that are now Melissa’s patients. Alternatively, the role played by the central character demonstrates the discomfort that often interferes with psychiatrists and health workers in war zone areas such as Bosnia where little support is found (Epp 2000, 89). In that perspective, humanity is cast as complicated because it fails to give it’s a women a chance to succeed and heal. This is after undergoing the suffering and pain of a civil war that has claimed all their children. Another main character important in Ensler’s play is J.S. who assists Melissa in her group therapy sessions. She is described as a compassionate and loving colleague with the strength to help needy women in Bosnia affected by the war. J.S. is from the psychiatry field that enables her to interview and listen to the women especially in narrating their tragedies such as sexual assault and rape. Therefore, the central character, J.S., resorts to methods of medication that include giving the victims the opportunities of becoming better people in their immediate societies. Training is another vital step undertaken to aid the women in terms of finding effective means of adapting to their new lives. Likewise, training is preventive measure to ensure that women do not become necessary targets of their potential attackers. J.S. as a psychiatrist has the big role of counseling the women to have self-esteem and confidence when they meet harmful people seeking for revenge. The role of being care-givers is another interesting role and responsibility that strengthens the bond between J.S. and the poor Bosnian refugees who had initially doubted their mission (Jarrat 2009, 90). Overall, both Melissa and J.S. act as the mediators between the world and the victims to restore hope and happiness in their lives. Question 2 I would like to meet the above character as a service user based on numerous reasons. However, it is essential to define a service user as person who receives health from trained personnel in social and health care. Therefore, the conversion of Melissa into service user would be great because it could help her meet certain important roles and responsibilities. This is because she is a patient in the wider understanding of acquiring relevant services given by professions. As a result, in a war zone, meeting Melissa assists me in making sober analyses on ways of reducing the problem of women refugees. Additionally, being a service-user would ensure that I note the challenges that affect all patients regardless of their color, disability, illness, or age. It means as receivers of services, goals and objectives that guide people such as Melissa or J.S. should reflect the needs of society. In other words, while care-giving is a big step as observed by the author in her play, it equally supports the idea of fairness (Kiernan 2013, 125). Providing services in areas suffering from conflict is a valuable form of making refugees better because it exposes them to diverse experiences lacking in their countries. Another reason for meeting Melissa as a service user deals with the urge to obtain valuable information on ways of preventing wars in dangerous areas. This is because only service users have the authority of pointing out the areas that require corrections and not other way round where professionals refuse any consultation. Accordingly, the reflection of implementing government policy with productive ways is essential when the main character is cast as a service user. In Ensler’s view, exposing the demerits of monopoly that usually occur in assisting needy people is the first step toward improving the situation in suffering areas. Efficient delivery to weak refugees is the role of both service users and care-givers such as J.S. who do excellent work meant to give valuable insight for leaders and stakeholders. Meaningful reforms are also essential because it attracts sponsors with funds to sponsor a series of activities. These are meant to give the helpless another chance to realize their dreams and ambitions in life. Bosnian War, for illustration, ensures that a dedicated service user such as Melissa or J.S. have all the necessary tools of interacting with other professionals to boost their health and lives (Meiring 2009, 110). Identification of a neutral ground is crucially a defining moment of setting new goal plans and guidelines to increase the professionalism of assisting refugees such as Azra in the book. Question 3 I have both similar and different experiences that match with those of the main character in terms of the assistance offered to women refugees in war zone areas. The similar experiences involve offering help to refugees and rape victims in nations that include South Sudan, DRC, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone where civil wars have affected women and children. As noted by Melissa in her compassion and dedication, dealing with such populations is tricky and challenging because others are hostile. They often believe that foreigners are dishonest in their intention to create a peaceful environment where they can benefit. These people could resort to other forms of violence backed by rebels and militias as evident in numerous African nations at war. Resistance from victims such as Zlata as observed in Necessary Targets: A Story of Women and War is another common feature because they are eyewitness to the double standards of Western powers. According to them, Americans and Europeans are doing only sexy business by intervening in their situations. It equally echoes the desire to enter into the lives of these refugees and feel the pain and agony of being displaced by a useless war (Norman 2011, 156). However, the approach of achieving this goal usually becomes tough because behavior of refugees is self-centered. The behavior is caused by endless trauma and confusion because they lack places to go and the future also looks gloomy. Narration of stories by the women was also cross-cutting in all the populations that I met and this symbolizes the struggles of humanity when faced with trauma. However, other differences also exist that I witnessed that was not present in Melissa’s struggles to help women refugees in Bosnia. First, encounter with helpless victims of war forced to become more than a human rights worker because that was not enough. I, therefore, asked for financial and moral support from friends and colleagues to enable me support these groups overcome their challenges with grace. Second, unlike Melissa, I devoted my whole compassion and love in getting involved in the lives these women in order to understand the capacity of their inner traumas and conflicts. In other words, while removing all the problems affecting the refugees is a hard task, becoming a part of them was encouraging and inspiring (Rappaport 2007, 143). Third, I included other external methods to let my subjects speak about their experiences using entertainment formats. These were staging plays, watching television, and speaking on the microphone to make their agonizing experiences interesting processes that does not burden them. Notably, I used entertainment to act as new methods of living their experiences in refugee camps where life is meaningless for the majority suffering from traumas of war and rape. Question 4 I have learnt several lessons from the main character with emphasis on the roles and responsibilities of helping the weak in harsh societies where war is normal. First, l leant that telling stories is a healing process for most people especially if the stories are of trauma and agony as noted in the women refugees of the Bosnian War. By narrating their stories, the women are giving the world a chance to find efficient ways of intervening to stop further killing of non-combatants. It also demonstrates the negative roles that men play in society to put down their counterparts through rape and torture that destroys them for life. Second, I leant from Melissa that dedication to a noble cause is important because it gives one deeper satisfaction in life unlike doing other activities. For example, in my daily interaction with most of the women, I was happy and motivated to listen to their narratives while seeking amicable solutions of improving their lifestyles. This means that I was getting into the small details of their lives and things that inspire them (Tasker 2011, 144). I was able to analyze their hopes and aspirations in life after leaving the refugee camps where life is shocking and sad. Third, involves the use of external factors to influence the outcome of vulnerable persons when faced with the dangers of a war that they cannot control. Melissa and her colleague, J.S. display patience in interacting with hard and hostile people while still show their determination to assist them overcome their difficulties. Another lesson involved counseling of hostile people to embrace life and avoid giving up because it introduces despair and desperation. This feeling often prevents a person from reconciling himself from an ugly past that hurt them such as the killing and rape by militants during the Bosnian War. According to the play, bridging the past, present, and future for the victims was a fundamental step because it accorded them a straight vision of achieving their goals and objectives. It also enabled them to find means of stopping of the ethnic differences that interfere with native Bosnians around the country (Rappaport 2007, 147). Alternatively, I also discovered that studying poor people could be negative because it only shows them as income generating objects and not suffering human beings. Melissa’s feminist struggles with women are dishonest especially in her deliberate failure and refusal to enter their lives and investigate them further. It, therefore, is important to continue supporting brave women such as Eve who dedicate their knowledge, time, and effort to assist others in overcoming the difficulties of post-war days. In her use art as a medium of communication, she demonstrates that all have a role to play in the improvement of the world especially preventing or stopping wars from happening again (Ensler 2001, 129). She is also an example of strength in spite of criticisms, negative feedback, and neglect by others when the weak suffer and nobody is willing to reach out to them. Bibliography Ensler, E 2001, Necessary Targets: A Story of Women and War, Villard, New York. Epp, M 2000, Women Without Men: Mennonite Refugees of the Second World War, SAGE, New Jersey. Jarrat, M 2009, War Brides: The Stories of the Women Who Left Everything Behind to Follow the Men They Loved, SAGE, Mason. Kiernan, D 2013, The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II, Simon Schuster, New York Times. Meiring, J 2009, Against the Tide: A Story of Women in War, iUniverse, New York. Norman, E 2011, Women at War: The Story of Fifty Military Nurses Who Served in Vietnam, Routledge, Mason. Rappaport, H 2007, No place for ladies: the untold story of women in the Crimean War, SAGE, Mason. Tasker, Y 2011, Soldiers’ Stories: Military Women in Cinema and Television Since World War II, SAGE, New York. Read More