Thursday, November 20, 2008

Chapter 5 (RBoC)

The fight is still going on and Henry & Co. are waiting for the enemy to come. The waiting reminds Henry of home and waiting for the circus. Henry & Co. seem to be at the front lines, and a General came over to their Colonel telling them they must hold them back.
Once Henry saw the foes coming, all thoughts of running escaped his mind, and he became part of the cause. The bond of brotherhood most soldiers acquire in war became apparent to Henry, and he felt as if he as been in battles before. The young soldier feels that he must fight not just for the cause, but for the end of the battle.
During the battle Henry listens to everyone around him voice/chant different things, like swearing or grunting. He also notices one soldier tries to run away but the lieutenant beats him up a bit and the crying soldier gets back into formation... with help from the lieutenant. The young soldier sees multiple injuries, like a man who's leg knee and everything below got ripped off by a cannon ball. He also sees that his captain is dead.
The enemy is pushed back where Henry is, and everyone either cheers or is completely silent. When looking around, Henry takes in all of the dead bodies around and can't believe how the day can look so nice when so many people died.

Motifs-
*Clean and Dirty~ It seems that when Henry was clean, he was immature, and when feeling grimy/dirty he is maturing.

Themes-
*Courage~ During the whole battle, Henry kept his cool.

Symbols-
*Nature~ When the battle was over, Henry noticed that the day/sky looked perfect, and couldn't understand how that could be when so many soldiers just died. Nature symbolizes the world. Just because one thing is going on, that doesn't mean the entire world will care.

Question- What happened to Jim? Is he alive or wounded, or did he run?

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