The story is narrated by Tommo who wishes not to think about what will happen at dawn, but to remember instead what went before. "I want to try to remember everything, just as it was, just as it happened. I've had nearly eighteen years of yesterdays and tomorrows, and tonight I must remember as many of them as I can. I want tonight to be long, as long as my life, not filled with fleeting dreams that rush me on towards dawn."
Tommo recounts his years growing up in England with his mother, his older brother Charlie, whom he admired, and Big Joe, a older brother who was severely affected by a bout of meningitis when he was a baby.
Tommo recounts his years growing up in England with his mother, his older brother Charlie, whom he admired, and Big Joe, a older brother who was severely affected by a bout of meningitis when he was a baby.
Thomas begins by remembering his first day of school, as he is taken by Charlie. Their brother Big Joe who is older than Charlie has never been to school. Big Joe nearly died from meningitis a few days after he was born. He had brain damage: he couldn't speak well, nor read or write but he loved everyone and everything. At school, they form two lines, with Charlie in the "Bigguns" and Thomas in the "Tiddlers". Thomas is singled out by Mr. Munnings who tells him he is his lord and master and that he better obey his "commandments". Thomas is in Miss McAllister's class where he is seated next to the teachers oldest and best student, Molly. She teaches him how to tie his shoelaces and her smile tells Thomas that he has a friend. From that point on Tommo adored Molly.
Before he began attending school, Thomas's father, James Peaceful died in an accident. Thomas was with his father the day he died. His father often took him to his work as a forester on the Colonel's estate. That day as his father was chopping away at a tree, Thomas looked up and saw that it was coming down on him. His father yelled for him to run but Thomas was paralyzed with fright and didn't move. In an effort to save Thomas, his father ran to him and tossed him out of the way. When Thomas woke up he saw his father pinned to the ground by the large tree, dead. At his father's funeral Thomas was unable to cry or talk. "...I have inside me a secret so horrible, a secret I can never tell anyone, not even Charlie. Father needn't have died that morning in Ford's Cleave Wood. He was trying to save me. If only I had tried to save myself, if I had run, he would not now by lying dead in his coffin...I have killed my own father."
With the death of his father, life for Thomas and his family changed. Soon after Thomas's mother stopped singing and was quieter and sad. Then the Colonel arrived one day to tell them that with the death of her husband, she would have to leave the cottage on his estate. However, he suggested that she come work at the house to care for his wife as the two older boys would be able to look after themselves. He also suggested placing "the other one" - that is Big Joe, in the lunatic asylum. Without much choice, Thomas's mother took the job as maid and his mother's aunt, whom they called "Grandmother Wolf" moved in. She had once worked at the Colonel's house as a housekeeper but had to leave. She quickly took charge, was strict and was harsh with Big Joe. During this time, Thomas's mother was too tired to protest Grandma Wolf's treatment of the boys and of Molly whom she often hit.
The Colonel's wife died and Thomas's mother returned home. without much money they began to go hungry. To alleviate this, Charlie began poaching salmon, trout and rabbits from the Colonel's land while Molly and Thomas kept watch. Finally during this time, Grandma Wolf left their home and moved back to the Colonel's house as a live-in housekeeper. Thomas's family were allowed to remain in the cottage because of a promise made by the Colonel's wife.
Shortly after this Molly became ill with scarlet fever. Without her watching, Thomas fell asleep and Charlie was caught poaching by the Colonel's bailiff, Lambert. Charlie was made to apologize, but their mother's intervention prevented the boys being whipped. Instead they were made to clean out the Colonel's kennels for several months. Thankfully Molly recovered and visited the Peacefuls on Christmas Eve.
When Thomas turned twelve, both Charlie and Molly left school. She was fourteen and Charlie was thirteen. Charlie worked in the hunt kennels at the Colonel's house while Molly became under-parlor maid there. For Thomas, this began the separation of the three friends. There was more trouble with the Colonel when Charlie took Bertha, one of the Colonel's foxhounds to save her from being shot by Colonel. This led to Charlie being fired but keeping Bertha who became Big Joe's faithful companion. Charlie managed to find work with Farmer Cox as a dairyman and shepherd. At this time Molly stopped visiting Charlie and they knew this was because of the Colonel. Thomas managed to meet with Molly in the trees by the brook where she revealed that her parents won't let her visit because Charlie is a thief. However, they got around this by having Thomas bring letters back and forth.
With Europe at war the army had bought up many horses in the village. Molly's mother visited the Peaceful home to insist that Charlie and Molly stop seeing one another. Thomas was hurt by the revelation that his brother has continued to see Molly because he too loves her. Then Big Joe went missing. This happened after the Bertha was shot by the Colonel. It was Molly who determined that Big Joe, in an effort to get to heaven, has gone to the church tower. And that is where Thomas found him.
At this time, the battle on the Marne had left the British and the Germans at a stalemate. Molly and Charlie married after she showed up at the Peaceful home, pregnant with Charlie's baby and disowned by her parents. This was a struggle for Thomas to accept so he kept his distance from Molly. One day when Thomas who was now fifteen years old, was in Hatherleigh to sell Farmer Cox's rams, he watched as a military band entered the maarket. The sergeant-major began singling out young men including Thomas, to enlist. Jimmy Parsons stepped forward followed by others, but Thomas did not. Instead he fled the market in fear and shame, being labelled a coward.
At home, Charlie told Thomas he never planned to join because he has\d no quarrel with the Germans. He couldn't understand why he would want to shoot a German. However, a few weeks later the Colonel visited the Peaceful cottage and threatened Charles into enlisting as the British military needed more men. To force Charlie to enlist, the Colonel told his mother that if he didn't they would no longer be able to live at the estate's cottage. So both Charlie and Thomas pretended to be twins and enlisted together. It was a decision that was to have terrible repercussions for Charlie and Molly and change the Peaceful family forever.
At home, Charlie told Thomas he never planned to join because he has\d no quarrel with the Germans. He couldn't understand why he would want to shoot a German. However, a few weeks later the Colonel visited the Peaceful cottage and threatened Charles into enlisting as the British military needed more men. To force Charlie to enlist, the Colonel told his mother that if he didn't they would no longer be able to live at the estate's cottage. So both Charlie and Thomas pretended to be twins and enlisted together. It was a decision that was to have terrible repercussions for Charlie and Molly and change the Peaceful family forever.
Discussion
Private Peaceful is a story about World War I that explores the injustice of executing soldiers for desertion, cowardice or for merely falling asleep. The two main characters, Thomas and Charlie Peaceful are fictional, but the executions of soldiers during World War II was very real.
Private Peaceful is a story about World War I that explores the injustice of executing soldiers for desertion, cowardice or for merely falling asleep. The two main characters, Thomas and Charlie Peaceful are fictional, but the executions of soldiers during World War II was very real.
The novel is narrated by Thomas (Tommo) Peaceful, the younger brother of Charlie Peaceful. It is the night before Charlie's execution. However, the reader is initially led to believe that it is Thomas who is facing execution and reminiscing about his life. Each chapter is titled with a time stamp, the first chapter being Five Past Ten (the night before) and ending with One Minute To Six (the morning of the execution). In these chapters, Thomas is remembering his life with Charlie beginning with the day Charlie carried him to school on his back. Throughout the narrative Thomas portrays his older brother as someone unfraid to confront those injustice.
This is first seen when Thomas fights Jimmy Parsons for calling Big Joe a "loony" and is beaten. Charlie takes on Jimmy and gets canned by Mr. Munnings, their harsh school master. However, unlike Jimmy Parsons who cries, Charlie doesn't flinch. Later on, Charlie attempts to save the Colonel's foxhound Bertha from being shot for simply being too old. This gets Charlie labelled a thief. But it is in the army where Charlie rebels against the harsh and cruel discipline. Forced to enlist by the Colonel in order for his mother, Big Joe, and his wife Molly to stay in their cottage, Charlie is accompanied by younger brother Thomas to Salisbury Plain where they train and then travel to Etaples, France to fight.
In France they meet Sergeant "Horrible" Hanley who is abusive and cruel to the new soldiers. He immediately singles out Charlie Peaceful. It begins with Charlie's crooked cap badge. Charlie would not give Hanley the satisfaction of intimidating him and so he is put on extra sentry duty. When he couldn't break Charlie, Hanley singles out Thomas in an attempt to provoke Charlie. He succeeds after Thomas is ordered to run five times around the parade ground with his rifle above his head and he passes out. This leads Charlie to confront Hanley, resulting in him being administered Field Punishment Number One. "All day long Charlie was lashed there in the rain, legs apart, arms spread-eagled." Charlie wasn't the only soldier that Sergeant Hanley subjected to this treatment. "Caught sleeping one night at his post, Ben Guy, the innkeeper's son from Exbourne, on of the new recruits, was subjected, as Charlie had been before him, to Field Punishment Number One. For day after day he was strapped ther on the gun wheel in all weathers." This especially cruel form of punishment was used over sixty thousand times by the British army in World War 1. In truth it was a form of torture labelled "the crucifixion" that was eventually abolished in 1923 in Britain.
The final confrontation comes during a battle when Charlie rescues Thomas after he is buried by a shell explosion. Charlie, Thomas, Pete, along with many others and Sergeant Hanley are trapped in no-man's land in an old German concrete dugout. They are pinned down by machine guns on three sides. Charlie believes it is best for them to stay put and wait until dark especially since Thomas is so seriously wounded he cannot stand, let alone run in an attack. When Hanley gives the order to attack and no one moves, Charlie explains the Germans have seen them go into the dugout and are simply waiting for them to move out so they can open fire. Even when Hanley threatens Charlie with the firing squad, Charlie doesn't back down but explains that Thomas cannot run and that he's not leaving his brother. Hanley and the men go out but only he returns. "By nightfall there was still no sign of Pete, nor of a dozen others who'd gone out with the sergeant to join that futile charge. The sergeant decided it was time to go. So in the dark of the night, by twos and threes, the remnants of the company crawled back to our trenches across no-man's-land, Charlie half-dragging me, half lifting me all the way." After this Charlie is arrested.
The result is a sham of a trial without legal representation. Charlie describes the court-martial to Thomas: "They had their one witness, Sergeant Hanley, and he was all they needed. It wasn't a trial, Tommo. They'd made up their minds I was guilty before they even sat down. I had three of them, a brigadier and two captains looking down their noses at me as if I was some sort of dirt. " He tells Thomas that he told them everything and admitted to disobeying the order because it was "stupid, suicidal". Charlie tells Thomas that the military commanders knew that the attack was futile but that didn't matter. His record of "insubordination", of being wounded in the foot all sealed his fate. In the end, Charlie Peaceful was executed.
Charlie Peaceful's trial and execution highlights the unethical treatment of soldiers during World War 1 court martials. This included the lack of legal representation, and the absence of witnesses for the soldiers' defense. The execution of soldiers by all countries during World War I was seen as a way to enforce discipline ensuring that soldiers obeyed orders to attack, even when the situation seemed "suicidal" to the soldiers. It was also considered a deterrent to desertion. The British often carried out these executions before major offensives for this reason. The result was three hundred and six British soldiers were executed by firing squad during World War I.
As author Michael Morpurgo writes in his Author's Note, "That a shameful injustice had been done to these unfortunate men seemed to me beyond doubt. Their judges called them "worthless." Their trials, or court martials, were brief, under twenty minutes in some cases. Twenty minutes for a man's life. Often they had no one to speak for them and no witnesses were called in their defense. There was, I felt, a presumption of guilt. We know now, as they knew then, that most of these men were traumatized by shell shock. When their ends came it was always at dawn, and often they were shot by a firing squad made up of unwilling friends and comrades. The youngest soldier to be executed was just seventeen."
It also frames the growing disillusionment of soldiers as the war dragged on. The initial sense of patriotism gradually waned as both sides seems to achieve little progress. This is expressed by Charlie and Thomas's friend Pete who becomes angry upon hearing that Charlie has told his mother that they are "having a fine time in Belgium". Pete angrily responds, "So that's what we're having, is it?...A fine time. Why does he tell them that? Why doesn't he say what it's really like out here, what a hopeless bloody mess it all is, how there's good men, thousands of them, dying for nothing -- for nothing!..."
Author Michael Morpurgo effectively portrays the brutality of war in the novel. Soldiers like Charlie and Thomas and many of their school friends, are coerced into enlisting. Thomas experiences the wrath of an old woman who accuses him of being a coward while Charlie is bullied into enlisting by the Colonel. Although they are physically trained in England, it isn't until they see the huge training camp and see the wounded that Thomas and his brother begin to understand what the war might be like. Morpurgo captures the terror Thomas experiences during a gas attack even though he has a mask on. There are vivid descriptions of the rats and freezing mud in the trenches, the shelling, charges across no-man's-land, and the deaths of friends and mentors. Thomas remembers the fear, the panic and the pain of loss.
Private Peaceful is a novel of contrasts. The Peaceful family is one of love and kindness, of helping one another. Their simple tenderness and care for Big Joe is touching and its clear he has taught them to care for one another by his innocence and love for everything and everyone. In contrast to the rhythms of rural life in England is the chaos of war where the noise, fear, pain and death are ovewhelming.
Morpurgo has crafted believable characters in Charlie and Thomas, and in many of the secondary characters. The two brothers are friends and competitors with Thomas looking up to his older brother. Charlie is protective of Thomas and is a role model. Both Charlie and Thomas love Molly but it is Charlie who marries her. Knowing he will die, Charlie asks Thomas to take care of her and their little boy, Tommo. And as a final gift to Thomas, Charlie tells him that he was never responsible for their father's death.
The novel concludes with a Postscript about the World War 1 court martials and that the men who were executed were likely suffering from shell shock or what is now called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It also mentions that these men are still not pardoned. Morporgo's novel was published and 2004 and these men were "conditionally" pardoned in 2006.
Book Details:
Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo
Toronto: Scholastic Press 2004
208pp.
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