The Officer Character Analysis

The over-eager and dismissive officer scolds the injured lieutenant for improperly treating his wound, further adding to the protagonist’s deep sense of shame. Though his exact rank is unclear, this officer is likely the equal or the superior of the lieutenant. As such, he is the first one to belittle him from a position of authority. When he meets the officer, the lieutenant has just been relieved of duty after suffering a gunshot under embarrassing circumstances. The officer heightens this fresh shame in two ways. First, when they cross paths, he asks the lieutenant about “things of which he knew nothing.” For a military leader to be ignorant is embarrassing indeed. Second—and far graver—the officer immediately “scolds” him for improper care of his wound (a verb Crane repeats for effect). Without really asking, the brash officer tries to fix it, cutting the lieutenant’s sleeve and laying “bare the arm,” as the lieutenant’s “nerve[s] […] softly fluttered under his touch.” His over-confidence makes the lieutenant hang his head and feel inadequate. And the whole process, with the officer unwrapping trembling, naked skin, resembles a parent changing a baby’s diaper—a feeling of belittlement that later solidifies when a surgeon chides the fearful lieutenant for acting like a “baby.” This surgeon, furthermore, lets readers know that the officer’s bandage was poor from the start, a revelation that suggests the lieutenant has been denigrated by someone as clueless as he is. The officer’s “scolding” behavior in the moment, and his brazenness toward the meek lieutenant, help introduce two of Crane’s themes: that people (such as the officer) tend to treat the injured with snobbishness, and that war makes people (such as the lieutenant) keenly aware of their own inadequacies.