Melal, By Robert Barclay

In a novel “Melal”, a lot of incidents mostly happen on Marshall Islands. The Marshall Islands are located near by the equator in the Pacific Ocean, and the Marshall Islands country consists of a group of Micronesia. Official languages of the Marshall Islands are Marshallese and English. This means that the islands were used to be related to U.S army. The Marshall Islands were independent from the United States, and did set up a government in 1979. Even though most of citizens of the Marshall Islands are Marshallese descent, there are many immigrants from United States. Historical events such as World War 2, and nuclear testing on the islands has a huge effect on the Marshall Islands, but the islands are still beautiful, and people keep their traditional life style. Robert Barclay, an author of the novel “Melal”, usually deals with U.S military occupation to the Marshall Islands. The author describes colonization, westernization and environmental damage to the islands by nuclear testing. When he was young, he used to watch missiles and U.S soldiers on the Marshall Islands. Before he is becoming a writer, he wasn’t really interested in the islands, and didn’t realize how terrible wars are. When he grows up, he debuts with “Melal” and visits the Marshall Islands again for information. He can look
He works at a sewage plant, but he is not able to access his workplace after working by U.S military. His two sons, Jebro and Nuke, are different toward this circumstance. Jebro try to keep Marshallese tradition. On the other hand, Nuke eager to American culture. They live on Ebeye island, but they are forced to move other place because of nuclear missile tests several times. Sometimes, they argue with each other for their different perspective about the nuclear missile testing, but they try to solve current problems as much as they