97 pages • 3 hours read
Joseph BruchacCode Talker
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2005A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 21-24Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 21 Summary: “Guam”
Ned’s division is supposed to land on Guam, but some of the force is diverted to assist on Saipan. Ned ends up on Eniwetok island, east of Guam, to wait. The delay benefits Ned’s unit, as the Navy spends two weeks shelling coastal defenses on Guam and wiping out Japanese planes as well.
Guam is an important strategic victory. Ned read about the island’s history in high school. It was controlled by the United States until the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, when it was taken by the Japanese. Chamorros, the US citizens of Guam, were tortured and killed by the Japanese, or interned in camps if they were defiant. Ned reflects that he has a hard time sympathizing with the Japanese because of their cruel treatment to the indigenous peoples they encountered.
Led by Major General Turnage, Ned’s division lands south of where the Japanese expect them to. This is a tougher landing spot but it’s strategically favorable. When Ned lands on the beach, he doesn’t have the enormous TBX radio to cover him or weigh him down, so he sprints inland. The Marines then face a 200-foot cliff, which they must scale while under enemy fire.
There’s a heavy Japanese presence on Guam. Ned is briefly housed with General Smith, as the code talkers are vital to the operation and must be near central command at all times. When Ned finally moves inland, he traverses “broken” villages where the Japanese retreated—but not before killing the inhabitants. There’s a brief lull in the action after US forces take the beach, but the Japanese attack at night. They’re unable to break US lines, and 3,500 Japanese soldiers are killed in this last-ditch effort. Though US casualties are fewer, one code talker dies in the conflict. Within about two weeks, the battle for Guam is considered won. Marines enter the capital of Guam and set up operations.
Ned is deeply affected by the devastation that war wreaks on civilians:
What happened to those Chamorros and the people on the other islands made me think yet again of what had been done to our Navajo people during the time of the Long Walk. I wanted to weep for them. It was just as bad for the Chamorros as it had been for us Indians (154).
A code talker named Charlie Begay has a brush with death. The Marines come across his body after a skirmish on Guam. Thinking him dead, they take his dog tags and cover him, but Charlie reappears weeks later, having survived the attack.
Chapter 22 Summary: “Fatigue”
Ned is sent back to “the line” after going to Hawaii to recover in a hospital. He explains that during the last few days of fighting in Guam, he was shot in the shoulder. Georgia Boy ran him to a medic, and he eventually made his way to the operating room on a ship. Other soldiers convalescing on the ship are physically wounded, and many are psychologically wounded. In the military they refer to this type of injury as “battle fatigue,” and some perceive the wounded soldiers as weak or as “fakers,” but Ned understands that killing another human—even an enemy—damages part of the killer. This concept exists in the lore of the Navajo Holy People, who perform an Enemyway ceremony for warriors who are depleted by battle, to restore their balance.
Chapter 23 Summary: “Pavuvu”
At the beginning of 1945, Ned is on the small Pacific island of Pavuvu. Once again there are lots of insects, as well as rats and giant crabs. The code talkers are constantly adding to their vocabulary as the war progresses. Because they relay messages among commanders, the code talkers learn about the atomic bombs being developed by the United States.
Much is kept from the civilians at home to maintain morale, including pictures of American casualties and knowledge of Japanese kamikaze pilots. Ned learns the history of such pilots, who are named after a Japanese “holy wind,” which they believe protects them from enemies. The pilots are martyrs, and many Japanese volunteer to serve this way, though the success rate of kamikaze pilots is inflated by the Japanese military.
The Marines start to grow hopeful for the end of the war, suspecting they will soon take their fight to mainland Japan and win, but Ned is apprehensive about how the Japanese military may behave in retreat. Japan is not a signatory to the Geneva Convention and therefore represents a “different kind” of enemy than US forces face in Europe. Prisoners of war in Japanese camps are not treated humanely.
The US military is hesitant to invade Japan, fearing heavy losses. Instead, they bomb Japanese factories and set up a blockade that prevents resources from entering the country. Ned is privately concerned that these efforts won’t be sufficient but is again comforted by the presence of the Navajo soldiers around him. Before leaving Pavuvu, they have a sort of powwow to “bring the Holy People” into their midst (171). From Pavuvu, they are sent to Iwo Jima.
Chapter 24 Summary: “Iwo Jima”
Central Pacific Command sends orders to the troops: They will mount the biggest Marine force ever assembled to assault Iwo Jima. Though he had never heard of the place prior to being sent there, Ned has a sense of foreboding about the mission. On the southern end of the island is the imposing Mount Suribachi. During months of Allied air attacks and bombardment, the Japanese create 16 miles of underground tunnels to wait out the assault. The Japanese commander, Kuribayashi, plans to wait until US forces are amassed on the island before firing from the cover of the tunnels.
Japanese soldiers are now wearing white bands around their heads and cotton waistbands under their uniforms, which have been sewn for them by their families and are meant as a form of protection. These bands are called sennimbari, and a Lakota soldier called Sam likens them to a “ghost shirt” one of his ancestors wore for protection in battle, which did not end up protecting him.
Chapters 21-24 Analysis
This section is rife with travels and battles on Guam, Hawaii, Pavuvu, and Iwo Jima. Ned details hardship in battle, noting both military and civilian casualties. He pays special attention to the plight of the Chamorros, in keeping with his focus on the oppressed indigenous peoples he encounters. Just as war makes clear the human cost of such conflict, it also exposes humanity’s potential for cruelty and evil. Ned observes how the Japanese murder or imprison the Chamorros on Guam, and he sees parallels to America’s treatment of the Navajo. He recalls, “I wanted to weep for them. It was just as bad for the Chamorros as it had been for us Indians” (154).
Though he feels camaraderie with his fellow US soldiers and commiserates with the Chamorros, Ned also takes an interest in the experience of Japanese soldiers. His narrative of the fighting is as much about humanity as it is about victory and defeat.
When Ned is shot while fighting on Guam, he’s sent to recover in Hawaii, where he witnesses how other convalescing soldiers face physical and psychological wounds. When addressing the notion of “battle fatigue,” he says that Navajo culture acknowledges the toll that killing takes on a person—they even have a ceremony meant to restore balance in a warrior. Thus, the unique Navajo lens is again brought to bear on the war story.
Ned also talks about how governments are disingenuous about the realities of war in the narratives that they weave for people back home. The Japanese military misrepresents the success rate of Kamikaze pilots, in hopes of galvanizing volunteers, while the US government hides images of its fallen soldiers and conceals the existence of Kamikaze pilots to Americans.
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