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Chapter 16
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
Willie’s company arrives at its new trenches at midnight in early June of 1917. To the soldiers’ surprise, everything is already prepared for them, and they’re given water, tea, stew, and a double ration of rum. Although he’s terrified of the upcoming battle, Willie is impressed with the army’s efficient arrangements. Christy Moran praises the new general in charge. The soldiers sit in the trenches while bombshells explode along the Messines ridge.
The soldiers are so accustomed to poor conditions in the trenches that they’re shocked to be treated well. Once again, basic necessities such as food and water now seem like luxuries to the men after the suffering they’ve endured in previous battles.
Themes
Christy Moran tells Willie and his fellow soldiers that he joined the army because his wife lost her right hand in a fire started by her smoking pipe. After this accident, she could no longer work as a seamstress, so Christy became a soldier to support her. O’Hara and Joe Kielty express sympathy for Christy’s wife, and Christy is relieved not to be laughed at.
Christy now trusts his comrades enough to be more vulnerable around them. This is a testament to the strong bonds these men have formed with each other throughout the war. The soldiers support each other emotionally through pain and hardship.
Themes
After three hours of bombardment, Biggs tells all the soldiers to lie on the ground. Mines buried beneath the Messines ridge detonate, and huge explosions destroy the earth before Willie’s eyes. Then Willie and his comrades climb out of the trenches and march across open land toward the ridge under the cover of their machine guns. Men of the 16th and 36th Divisions together wade through the heat and fumes of the explosion. When Willie and his fellow soldiers reach the ridge, an enemy machine gun opens fire at them. Christy Moran charges, yelling for his comrades to keep up. Christy scales the slope and swiftly kills two German soldiers with his bayonet.
The detonation of 19 mines under Messines Ridge on June 7, 1917, was one of the largest and deadliest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded in history. The novel’s fictional account of the explosion and subsequent battle underscores the terrifying devastation of mine warfare, including both human casualties and the destruction of the land itself.
Themes
At dawn, the soldiers celebrate their victory. Willie is amazed by how quick and easy this battle was. More men come to relieve the soldiers who led the attack, and Biggs goes ahead to find Christy Moran, Joe Kielty, and a few other men who went too far up the ridge. Biggs is killed by a flare, but Christy, Joe, and Timmy Weekes rejoin Willie an hour later. In the ruined village of Wytschaete at the top of the ridge, Ulstermen and southerners congratulate one another.
This moment of triumph unites Irishmen together across their differing political and religious backgrounds, which often divide them. However, even this swift and decisive victory isn’t the kind of magnificent triumph that Willie once dreamed of. Biggs’s abrupt, unheroic death showcases that the reality of war is nonsensical violence and death, not glory.
Themes
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In the following weeks, Christy Moran earns a medal for his bravery. He also sees King George of England, who comes to speak to some of the soldiers. Afterward, Christy is oddly happy and tells Willie that the king is a polite gentleman, although Willie points out that Christy normally hates the King of England.
Christy’s medal is a sign of the British Army’s recognition of his loyal service to England. That the King of England himself visits the soldiers is a further reminder that the Irish soldiers are expected to fight faithfully for the British crown.
Themes
Next month, Willie’s company is sent back to Ypres. Christy Moran complains that the new general, Gough the Mutineer, is sympathetic to the Ulstermen.
Christy’s distaste for the general’s support of Irish unionists highlights the strong political divisions that persist among Irishmen in the British Army.
Themes
