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Chapter 11
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Long Long Way, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Youth, Naivety, and Growing Up
The Horrors of War
Family, Camaraderie, and Love
Political Conflict and Divided Loyalties
Resilience and Shared Humanity
Summary
Analysis
For a week, Willie’s company marches, digs trenches, and sits through useless lectures. Meanwhile, the soldiers hear news of more executions in Ireland, and they fear for their home. Collectively, the soldiers feel every possible emotion toward the executed rebels: admiration, confusion, doubt, anger, hatred, and grief.
Because of Britain’s response to the Easter Rising, the Irish soldiers are especially divided amongst themselves about the ongoing turmoil at home. Their differing feelings about the rebel executions illustrate that there’s no one right way for the soldiers to react to the conflicts in Ireland.
Themes
One evening, Father Buckley comes to Willie and reveals that Jesse Kirwan is awaiting a court-martial. According to Father Buckley, Jesse has been refusing to follow orders, talking about “liberty and freedom” to his fellow soldiers, and insulting his officers. Jesse is now locked up and refuses to eat or talk to anyone. Father Buckley beseeches Willie to speak with Jesse and possibly save him from execution.
Jesse’s disobedience is directly tied to his Irish nationalist ideals. Although Jesse originally joined the British Army for the sake of Ireland’s independence from British rule, he now seems to feel that fighting dutifully for England is itself intolerable. So, Jesse puts his loyalty to Ireland first, even though he risks severe punishment.
Themes
Willie protests that he only knew Jesse Kirwan for a day and doesn’t understand why Jesse would ask for him. Father Buckley encourages Willie to be compassionate, but Willie feels weary, empty, and thin inside. He simply wants to marry Gretta, bicker with his sisters, and work with Dempsey as a builder. When Father Buckley asks Willie for the final time if he’ll visit Jesse, Willie doesn’t answer, but the priest takes Willie’s silence as a yes.
Willie feels that he can’t help Jesse, as if all his experiences on the Western Front have drained Willie of his hope and compassion for others. Exhausted by the troubles of war, Willie yearns only for a peaceful life at home with his loved ones.
Themes
On July 1, 1916, the 36th (Ulster) Division engages in a major battle, which leaves 2,000 men dead and even more injured. Such steep casualties disturb Willie and his comrades. Willie feels an “odd love” for the Ulstermen as he mourns so many deaths.
Here, the novel alludes to the historical Battle of the Somme, which was one of the deadliest battles of World War I. Willie didn’t take part in this fighting, but he’s still deeply affected by the staggering loss of so many lives. And even though he didn’t know the members of the 36th Division personally, he still grieves their deaths. He’s connected to the Ulstermen as a fellow soldier through a meaningful bond Willie can only describe as “love.”
Themes
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On July 3, 1916, Father Buckley takes Willie to a slaughterhouse behind the rear lines, where Jesse Kirwan’s holding cell is. While Father Buckley speaks to Jesse first, Willie waits outside with the Irish corporal who guards the prisoners. The corporal strikes up a conversation with Willie. He says that he, unlike Jesse, is glad that the rebels in Dublin are being executed. Yet the corporal also expresses dislike of Major Stokes—who he says wouldn’t hesitate to shoot any Irishman—and calls Jesse a “nice lad.”
By distancing himself from Jesse, the Irish corporal argues that he, at least, is a loyal and obedient member of the British Army. At the same time, however, the corporal is unwilling to condemn Jesse as a person, and he also complains of the anti-Irish prejudice he has encountered in the army. Thus, the corporal reveals a difficult tension that many Irish soldiers seem to experience—the tension between serving the British Army faithfully and standing by their fellow Irishmen.
Themes
Willie enters Jesse Kirwan’s cell. Jesse is pale and lying still on his cot. Willie says he’s here to convince Jesse to repent, but Jesse wants to be shot. He believes no Irishman can fight in the war any longer. Jesse wants Willie to be his witness but doesn’t want Willie to reveal his intentions to anyone. Willie is perplexed, but he feels compelled to honor Jesse’s wishes.
Based on his own moral principles, Jesse decides that he can’t live as a traitor to his home. Therefore, since he believes that serving in the British Army is a betrayal of Ireland, Jesse would rather die than continue on as a soldier. Jesse’s conviction seems alien to Willie. However, Willie still respects the inexplicable bond he shares with Jesse.
Themes
Jesse tells Willie that he joined the army to fight for Home Rule in Ireland, but now he’s realized that the Ireland he’s been fighting for doesn’t exist and never will. Desperately, Willie begs Jesse to give up these thoughts and choose to live instead. But Jesse has made up his mind. Seeing his resolve, Willie gives him his own Bible, and Jesse accepts it.
Due to the war, the Easter Rising, and Britain’s swift suppression of the rebellion, Jesse no longer feels optimistic about Ireland’s future. His new despair about Ireland’s fate contributes to Jesse’s decision to die rather than keep fighting for what he believes is now a lost cause. Willie can’t comprehend Jesse’s political motivations. Nevertheless, Willie shows great kindness and respect to Jesse, and offering his Bible to Jesse is a meaningful act of friendship.
Themes
Willie leaves Jesse Kirwan’s cell, unsettled. As he walks back to his company’s billets with Father Buckley, he grows angry and wishes Jesse weren’t so determined to die for his principles. Aloud, Willie asks Father Buckley why Jesse couldn’t have just done his job as a soldier, returned home, and then thought whatever he liked. Father Buckley replies that all they can do is pray for Jesse now.
Willie doesn’t understand the force of Jesse’s beliefs or how such ideas could be worth Jesse’s life. Additionally, he doesn’t want to witness yet another death of an Irishman on the Western Front when the war has already killed so many people.
Themes
