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Chapter 18
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 returns home. Outside his family’s quarters in Dublin Castle, Dolly is playing with dolls that Willie suddenly remembers from his own childhood. Dolly doesn’t recognize her brother at first, but as soon as she realizes that Willie is back, she leaps into his arms. Willie is glad that he and his uniform are already clean. Annie and Maud are just as excited as Dolly to see Willie, although Annie is crying and looks angry. Willie cries, too—not from sorrow, but from other emotions he can’t name. Annie says they’ve seen war at home in the streets of Dublin, and she fiercely disapproves of Irish soldiers who have come home and given their guns to rebels.
Over the past year, Willie has grown and his experiences in the war have changed him significantly. As a result, he’s even more unrecognizable to his sisters now than he was the last time he visited home. Still, Willie’s sisters feel the same joy and love as ever upon seeing Willie again, and Willie is moved to tears by his love for his family. Importantly, Annie’s condemnation of the rebels reminds Willie of his family’s unionist position and indicates that his sisters have also been impacted by the political turmoil at home.
Themes
James Dunne comes home. Although Willie fears his father might still be angry with him, he smiles when he sees his father’s face. Thinking of all the death he has seen, he can’t help but take comfort from his father’s presence. Yet Willie also understands that his relationship with his father has changed irreversibly.
No matter how strained Willie’s relationship with his father might be, Willie still fundamentally loves and trusts his father. He finds solace in their familial bond despite the tensions between them.
Themes
James Dunne shakes Willie’s hand coldly and laughs. He speaks of how the rebels shot a policeman and brought death and ruin to Dublin. He angrily scolds Willie for sympathizing with the insurgents when he has a duty to the King of England. Horrified by his father’s words, Willie tries to explain that war can make a person think in new ways, but James Dunne shouts that he’s been forsaken by his own son and wishes that the rebels had killed him so he never had to hear Willie’s “villainy.” Maud weeps, and Willie walks out of Dublin Castle into the dark.
James Dunne views Willie’s sympathy for the rebels as a betrayal. He believes Willie has failed to be properly loyal to England and has personally turned against him. Willie never intended to cause this much strife within his family—which also inadvertently hurts his sisters—but he also can’t deny that his experiences of war have irrevocably shifted his perspective. That Willie leaves his family shows how much he has changed. He can no longer agree passively with his father’s worldview, and he accepts the rift this creates between himself and his father.
Themes
Willie goes to see Gretta in the tenement under Christ Church Cathedral. He feels hopeful that she’ll agree to marry him, but when he enters her room, he finds her breastfeeding her own child. She has gotten married and had a baby while Willie was away. Gretta tells Willie that she sent him a letter after his “friend” wrote to her, but Willie never got Gretta’s letter, nor does he know what kind of message she received. Gretta lets him read the note, which is signed by an anonymous soldier and states that Willie slept with a sex worker in Amiens. Willie tells Gretta the truth and apologizes to her, admitting that he still loves her. Gretta cries and says she’s sorry as well.
Like Willie’s relationship with his father, Willie’s relationship with Gretta has also been damaged. Willie still sincerely loves Gretta and treasures her as a bright source of hope in his life. However, Gretta no longer returns Willie’s love in the same way she used to. Nonetheless, she continues to care about Willie and bears no ill will against him.
Themes
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Willie confesses to Gretta that, in truth, he didn’t know his own mind. Then he leaves, remembering Gretta’s smile and feeling like a ghost of a person. That night, he sleeps in a dosshouse (a cheap hotel).
Willie displays self-awareness and maturity by acknowledging that he didn’t know his own mind in the beginning of the war like he thought he did. Now, Willie is less naïve and more certain of his own principles. Losing his future with Gretta and being at odds with his father together make Willie feel lifeless, as if these relationships have been the only things sustaining Willie recently.
Themes
