Private Peaceful

“I watch him until the door closes behind him and he’s gone. Until this moment I have never known what it is to feel truly alone.”

Thomas’s sense of loneliness when he and Charlie are separated reflects the intense bond between them, emphasizing The Power of Familial Bonds. This holds true as the novel progresses, as the brothers remain firm in their support of each other. The whole novel itself traces Thomas’s thoughts as the figurative “door closes behind” Charlie, underscoring the poignancy of the ending when Thomas must learn to be without him.

“He is on his back, his face turned away from me as if he doesn’t want me to see. One arm is outstretched towards me, his glove fallen off, his finger pointing at me.”

Thomas’s father’s tragic death is imprinted on his memory; it is a traumatic event he continuously revisits. The haunting image of his father’s outstretched arm symbolizes the weight of guilt that Thomas carries, believing that he is responsible for his death.

“As we were growing up, all we knew was that he was different. It didn’t matter to us that he couldn’t speak very well, that he couldn’t read or write at all, that he didn’t think like we did, like other people did. To us he was just Big Joe.”

Despite Big Joe’s intellectual disability, a result of his cognition being impaired after contracting meningitis, his family appreciates and respects him for who he is. Big Joe’s ability not to “think like we did” reflects the significance of lateral thinking in the novel when Challenging Tyrannical Authority.

“In a way our lives at home always revolved around Big Joe. How we thought about people depended largely on how they behaved with our big brother.”

People’s behavior toward Big Joe provides Charlie and Thomas a moral compass. Having experienced people belittling and disregarding their brother, Charlie and Thomas employ this as a technique to judge one’s character. Michael Morpurgo uses attitudes toward Big Joe to develop characterization of antagonists and protagonists.

“‘I’ll teach you, you young ruffians!’ he roared. ‘I’ll teach you!’ I’ve always thought that was the moment the Colonel began to hate us, that from then on he was always determined one way or another to get his own back.”

Morpurgo establishes the Colonel as an antagonist early in the novel, highlighting classism as the exacerbating force since he calls them “ruffians.” The early clash between the Peacefuls and the Colonel symbolizes to Thomas the beginning of his resentment toward the family. The Colonel’s vindictive nature later takes large proportions, disrupting Charlie and Thomas’s life and ultimately prompting them to serve in the war.

“They wouldn’t have Big Joe at school. Mr Munnings said he was backward. He wasn’t backward at all. He was different, “special” Mother used to call him, but he was not backward. He needed help, that’s all, and Mother was his help.”

In contrast to Mr. Munnings’s cruel and discriminatory stance, Mrs. Peaceful recognizes Joe’s disability by providing the support he needs to thrive. Mrs. Peaceful takes on the role of Big Joe’s mentor and guides him in his understanding of the world.

“From the day Grandma Wolf moved in, our whole world changed.”

Grandma Wolf’s arrival marks a significant turning point in the Peacefuls’ lives. It prompts a shift in the family dynamics, and marks the beginning of Thomas, Charlie, and Molly’s transition from childhood innocence to adulthood.

“We did get rid of her in the end too, but thankfully, without the use of rat poison. Instead, a miracle happened, a wonderful miracle.”

Grandma Wolf’s exit from the Peaceful household, facilitated by the Colonel’s employment, represents the family’s emancipation from her tyrannical rule. With Mrs. Peaceful back at home, their life resumes the calm, joyful routine that they had. Thomas views this as a miraculous event, suggesting that it offers them newfound freedom and relief.

“Both of them being older than me, Molly by two years, Charlie by three, they always ran faster than I did. I seem to have spent much of my life watching them racing ahead of me […]. When they got too far ahead I sometimes felt they wanted to be without me.”

Thomas’s lifelong sense of being left behind or excluded by Charlie and Molly is not only physical but also symbolic of his emotional and psychological distance from them. Besides seeming to be ahead of him in life, Charlie and Molly also develop a fondness for each other early on, which troubles Thomas as he also is enamored with Molly.

“She shook the pebbles around in her cupped hands, closed her eyes and then scattered them out on to the muddy shore. Kneeling over them she spoke very seriously and slowly as if she were reading them. ‘They say we’ll always be together, the three of us, for ever and ever. They say that as long as we stick together we’ll be lucky and happy.’”

Molly’s pebble ritual symbolizes the children’s deep desire for unity but their vulnerability to powers beyond their control. Having experienced separation in the past, Molly yearns for the current stability and happiness to be a permanent reality. Her wishes foreshadow the impending changes brought by the war.

“I wanted us to be a threesome again, for everything to be just as it had been. But nothing stays the same. I learnt that then. I know that now.”

Thomas’s longing for the past, when he, Molly, and Charlie were inseparable, underscores the inevitability of change, emphasizing that the idyllic moments of childhood can never be fully recaptured. His remarks also echo the loss of innocence brought about by war, and how the conflict drastically alters their lives. This quotation encapsulates the layered temporality in the novel; Thomas reflects on the past but imposes the lessons that he has learned in the present, highlighting his coming of age.

“[S]he started telling me about how all the talk up at the Big House these days was of war with Germany, how everyone now thought it would happen sooner rather than later.”

At this moment, the impending war with Germany serves as a distant backdrop, momentarily eclipsed by the characters’ personal lives. The conversation highlights the contrast between the peace and normalcy of their immediate surroundings and the looming specter of war.

“The look between them said it all, and I knew then that I had been betrayed.”

Thomas’s discovery of Molly and Charlie’s secret romance unveils a profound sense of betrayal. This revelation intensifies Thomas’s feeling of exclusion and the distance he already felt in relation to the couple. It highlights the trios’ development into adulthood.

“We saw the police searching the ponds and riverbanks with long poles—everyone knew Big Joe could not swim. That was when I first began to believe that the worst could really have happened.”

When Big Joe disappears, Morpurgo again portrays Thomas Confronting Mortality and Grief for the first time after his father’s death. The event precedes his experience in World War I, yet it serves as a foreshadowing of the profound grief and uncertainty that he will encounter during the war.

“‘You go and fight. It’s everyman’s duty to fight when his country calls, that’s what I say. Go on. Y’ain’t a coward, are you?’ Everyone seemed to be looking at me then, urging me on, their eyes accusing me as I hesitated.”

The pressure that Thomas feels around the expectation that he should enlist emphasizes the prevalent sense of duty in wartime. The strangers’ words and the accusing gazes of onlookers highlight the strain placed on young men like Thomas, who conformed to the prevailing patriotic sentiment.

“I decided like that, on the spur of the moment, to go with Charlie. In the end I suppose it was because I couldn’t bear the thought of being apart from him. We’d lived our lives always together, shared everything, even our love for Molly. Maybe I just didn’t want him to have this adventure without me.”

Thomas’s decision to go with Charlie to enlist reflects The Power of Familial Bonds. His innocence and idealism leads him to view the war as an “adventure,” a grand journey that he doesn’t want Charlie to embark on without him, which illustrates his limited understanding of the grim reality of conflict and the harshness of the trenches.

“Deep down though, I knew that, more than Charlie, more than my country or the band or the sergeant major, it was that toothless old woman taunting me in the square. ‘Y’ain’t a coward, are you? Y’ain’t a coward?’ The truth was that I wasn’t sure I wasn’t, and I needed to find out. I had to prove myself. I had to prove myself to myself.”

At its core, Thomas’s decision to enlist stems from his insecurity and the need to prove himself, particularly as he is the youngest brother and has always been protected by Charlie. Enlisting becomes a way for him to assert his independence and demonstrate his strength, denoting a significant moment of character development.

“Of all the names Sergeant ‘Horrible’ Hanley bellowed out across the parade ground at Etaples when we first came to France, Peaceful was by far the most frequent. […] Right from the very start Sergeant Hanley had it in for Charlie.”

From the moment they arrive in France, Charlie is singled out for unfair treatment by Hanley, setting the stage for an ongoing struggle between the two. This early antagonism foreshadows the danger that Charlie will face when Challenging Tyrannical Authority.

“We all knew then that the larking and the play-acting were over. From that moment none of us doubted the seriousness of what this would be about. It was our lives we would be acting out over here, and for many of us, our deaths.”

Initially, the recruits see the conflict as a distant or even abstract concept, dismissing its severity. However, the moment they set foot on the battlefield and hear the sounds of battle, their perception shifts, underscoring their lost innocence and abrupt awakening to the brutal truth of war.

“I cry like a baby sometimes and not even Charlie can comfort me. We want nothing more than for it to stop, for the earth to be still again, for there to be quiet.”

As the reality of war sets in, Morpurgo portrays the profound emotional trauma that Thomas and his fellow soldiers experience. Both a brutal physical conflict and an emotionally taxing experience, war takes a significant toll on Thomas and even threatens The Power of Familial Bonds when Charlie cannot comfort him.

“I feel a surge of triumph welling inside me, not because we have won, but because I have stood with the others. I have not run. ‘Y’ain’t a coward, are you?’ No, old woman, I am not, I am not.”

Thomas’s sense of triumph is not rooted in victory on the battlefield, but in his personal resilience and courage. The war has tested him and his comrades, and his triumph has been over fear and doubt. The “triumph” therefore relates more to his individual character development than the macro conflict.

“Morning at home used to be walking with Charlie to school, wading through piles of autumn leaves and stamping the ice in the puddles […]. Morning here has always been to wake with the same dread in the pit of my stomach, knowing that I will have to look death in the face again.”

As he laments the loss of his youthful innocence, Thomas reflects on the profound impact of war and the irrevocable changes it wielded on his life. Morpurgo juxtaposes the harsh reality of war to the picturesque scenes of Thomas’s childhood, now only a distant memory.

“‘The whole court martial took less than an hour, Tommo. […] He said I was a worthless man. Worthless.’ […] ‘You’re not worthless, Charlie. […] You’re the best friend I’ve ever had, the best person I’ve ever known.’”

Despite the unjust verdict, Thomas’s unwavering support of his brother remains strong. In the face of the ultimate adversity, his love for his brother challenges the military’s disregard for his life. Thomas recognizes Charlie’s true worth and emphasizes the profound impact he has had on his life.