Private Peaceful: Chapter 10 Summary & Analysis

Earlier, the other soldiers came and asked Tommo if he “wanted someone to stay with [him] through the night,” but he refused. He “even sent the padre away” (the military chaplain). Tommo now regrets his decision, and wishes to “have them all here” for company, for “singsongs” and drinking. Instead, he has had nothing but a mouse for company all night.

Tommo remembers how the next time the company were sent up to the front line, it was to the area of Ypres itself, which had been the target of relentless attack for months. There was nothing quiet about this new assignment. The defense around the town was constantly shrinking under the “almost constant bombardment” from the enemy. As they walk through Ypres (or “Wipers,” as the British men call it) Tommo “wondered why it was worth fighting for at all.” There was essentially no town left.

Their new company commander is a man named Lieutenant Buckland. He is straight from England and seems young and inexperienced as a result, and everyone misses Captain Wilkes. Tommo comments that Buckland seems even younger than Tommo does.

The new trenches they are assigned to are poorly constructed, in some places “little more than shallow dilapidated ditches affording [them] precious little protection,” and with even deeper mud than in their last trench. The dugout itself is better, but Tommo still finds that he can’t sleep for fear of what lies in store.

The next morning, Tommo is on stand-to duty, and observes no-man’s land all around him. There is barely anything left but the remains of the dead, some mud, and some barbed wire, but he notices some birds still singing. A corpse on the ground has his hand stretched out “heavenwards.” His hand is pointing towards the birds.

Soon, a bombardment starts, which lasts for two full days. Everyone wants “nothing more than for it to stop, for the earth to be still again, for there to be quiet.” Tommo knows that when the bombardment stops, the enemy will attack, but he would rather that than have the bombardment last a moment longer. “Let them come,” he says.

When the bombardment stops, Tommo sees the enemy approaching in the thousands, with their “bayonets glinting.” Charlie reassures Tommo that Tommo will be fine, and to stay with him. Tommo does “not run,” but “only because of Charlie.” He keeps shooting at the approaching enemy, and eventually the attack is over. Most of the enemy have been killed, and the remaining few have turned around. Tommo feels “a surge of triumph,” “not because [they] have won, but because [he has] stood with the others.” He has not run, and for this he is proud. He thinks back to the old woman calling him a coward, and imagines telling her “no, old woman, I am not, I am not.”

The British troops take the opportunity to start an attack on the German line, but the Germans are nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, the first of many German shells flashes in the air, starting their surprise counter-attack. Tommo looks frantically around for Charlie but can’t see him. Tommo flattens himself into the mud for protection, and is deafened by an explosion. When he manages to lift his head, he sees chaos all around him. The British line is being pushed back, and they are completely surrounded by German guns and shells. Men start to turn back, and Lieutenant Buckland grabs Tommo and shouts at him to retreat. Tommo finds that he can barely move his legs, but the lieutenant stays with him. Buckland is then killed as he helps Tommo. Tommo somehow manages to get back to the dugout, but Charlie is still nowhere to be seen.

Hours pass, and still Charlie does not return to the dugout. Tommo tries to reassure himself, hoping that maybe Charlie is just waiting for the right moment to crawl back, or that he’s gotten lost and ended up in a different trench. Still, he can’t shake the thought that Charlie might not have survived. By morning, Tommo is certain that Charlie is dead. He thinks about how his family will react to the news. He knows Big Joe will find comfort in his religious faith, and Tommo envies him for this. Tommo, in contrast, can “no longer even pretend” that he believes in God, heaven, or religion. He can believe “only in the hell [he] was living in, a hell on earth, and it was man-made, not God-made.”

Tommo goes on sentry duty. He thinks about Charlie and his father, and tries to imagine them as stars in the sky. He wishes he had told Charlie his secret about causing his father’s death, so he tells the star instead, and feels somehow that it has understood. He imagines Charlie’s voice in his head saying, “Don’t go all dreamy on lookout, Tommo.” Then he sees something moving past the wire, and hears Charlie’s voice again. Only then does Tommo realize that the voice is not inside his head, after all. It is Charlie, returning to the trench, and very much alive. The boys hug (Tommo isn’t sure they’ve ever hugged before) and then they both break down in tears.

Charlie had been shot in the foot, and passed out “in some shell hole.” When he awoke, everyone had left, so he had to wait until night to make his way back. He is taken to the hospital immediately, and Tommo manages to see him a few days later. Charlie looks very happy, and tells Tommo that he will be going home for a while, to recover in a British hospital. Tommo feels like he “should be pleased” for Charlie, but can’t bring himself to be. He feels abandoned by Charlie, and furthermore, he is upset by the fact that Charlie seems so happy to be going home without him. Charlie seems to sense Tommo’s sadness, putting a hand on Tommo’s arm and telling him “I’ll be back before you know it.”

On the night Charlie leaves for England, Tommo goes to the estaminet and drowns his sorrows and his anger at Charlie. He is angry that Charlie abandoned him, and that Charlie gets to go home when he doesn’t. Tommo even considers deserting the army, but decides to go back to camp instead, because “it was the easier choice—you can get shot for desertion.”

When Tommo is outside getting some air, the girl from the estaminet comes out and speaks to him, asking if he is ill. Tommo says no, but suddenly feels overwhelmed with sadness and homesickness. She asks if she will see him again, and Tommo says yes; they part ways, and Tommo heads back to camp. He feels calmer, and decides that next time he goes to the estaminet he will be brave and ask the girl her name.

Two weeks later, Tommo returns and does exactly that. The girl’s name is Anna, and they talk for a while. Tommo tells her he worked on a farm at home, so she shows him her father’s horse. While they are in the stables, Anna kisses him on the cheek. When Tommo heads back to camp, he sings “Oranges and Lemons” “at the top of [his] voice” all the way.

When he arrives back at camp, Tommo’s good mood is shattered when Pete tells him that their new sergeant will be Sergeant Hanley. When Hanley arrives, every day becomes miserable. He is constantly breathing down the soldiers’ necks and punishing them endlessly for the smallest offences. Tommo claims that everyone “hated him like poison, a great deal more than we had ever hated Fritz.”