Private Peaceful: Chapter 11 Summary & Analysis

Tommo realizes that it is nearly morning now, and reflects upon the fact that all of his mornings since he’s been a soldier have been a case of waking up with “the same dread in the pit of [his] stomach, knowing that [he] will have to look death in the face again.” The only difference on this particular morning is that he knows “whose death it will be and how it will happen.” He thinks to himself that if he considers it in this way, it doesn’t seem so bad.

After Charlie left, a new batch of recruits joined Tommo’s company. Many of the original company were either dead or wounded or ill by this point, so the new men were desperately needed. Tommo describes how the original soldiers seemed like “battle-hardened” warriors to the new recruits, and they all held Tommo and the others in high esteem because of this. Tommo quite enjoyed his new status, as it distracted him from his own fears.

 Life at the front line is fairly quiet for a while, with few attacks. The spring sun has started to come out, and the men have a rare chance to get dry and warm. There are still rats and lice, but Tommo describes it as a “picnic” in comparison to what they had been through before.

After this period of quiet comes a horrible and sudden awakening. Tommo is writing a letter when someone suddenly shouts, “Gas!” Everyone freezes momentarily in terror, even though they’ve trained countless times for a gas attack. Eventually Tommo gets his gas mask on and finds his rifle, and then looks out to see the gas cloud looming towards them. Tommo sees it coming straight for him, and starts to panic, even though he knows he should trust his gas mask. Someone told him once that a gas mask can work miracles, but he claims that he doesn’t believe in miracles anymore. In just a few moments, the gas is all around him. He tries not to breathe, and runs, but finds that he can’t run without breathing. He falls and accidentally knocks his mask off, and feels the gas in his eyes and lungs, and desperately tries to escape it.

At last, Tommo runs clear of the gas, only to find himself at the feet of an enemy soldier, who has a gun pointed at Tommo’s head. Tommo knows that he is about to be killed, but instead, the soldier tells him to run, and lets him escape.

Later at the hospital, Tommo realizes how many men were injured and killed in the gas attack. He got off lightly, and is dismissed from the hospital, but as he leaves he sees Nipper Martin’s body lying on the floor, along with countless other men.

Tommo returns to camp to find Pete alone in the tent. He, too, was very lucky in the attack. Pete gives Tommo two letters from home. Pete tells Tommo that he never gets any himself, and asks if Tommo can read his out to him instead. Mrs. Peaceful’s letter contains news of Molly’s newborn baby boy, who has been named Thomas, or Little Tommo, in honor of Tommo. Tommo’s mother adds that Charlie is at home, and has told them all that he and Tommo are having a “fine time together over in Belgium.” At this, Pete becomes angry. He can’t understand why Charlie would lie about the conditions of the war, and says Charlie “should be ashamed of himself.” Still, Tommo treasures the letters from his family, and keeps them safe. They buoy him through the tough times ahead.

The company soon discovers that Sergeant Hanley will never let up on them. He claims they “shamed the regiment” by acting like cowards in the gas attack, and he keeps finding ways to drive them into the ground as punishment. One soldier is caught sleeping at his post, and receives Field Punishment Number One, just as Charlie had before him. Tommo claims that these were the “darkest days we had ever lived through. Sergeant Hanley had done what all the bloody attrition in the trenches had never done. He had taken away our spirit, and drained the last of our strength, destroyed our hope.”

The company is given one night off before they are sent back up into line, so they head to the estaminet again. Tommo hopes to see Anna, but can’t find her anywhere, so he goes to her house. When the door opens, Tommo finds Anna’s father, the owner of the estaminet, looking like a shadow of his former self. He is no longer “dapper and smiling,” but “unshaven and disheveled” and reeking of alcohol. Tommo asks for Anna, and Anna’s father informs him that Anna is dead—she was caught in a stray explosion as she was collecting eggs. Anna’s father asks Tommo why he came to fight the war, and then says “you can go to Hell, all of you, British, German, French, you think I care? And you can take your war to Hell with you.” He slams the door in Tommo’s face.

Tommo goes to visit Anna’s grave. He wants to believe that she is in heaven, which he calls “Sunday-school Heaven” and “Big Joe’s happy Heaven,” but he finds he can only believe that Anna is “lying in the cold earth at [his] feet.” He kisses the earth, and then heads back to camp. By the time he arrives, he has “no more tears left to cry.”

The next day, the company is sent back into the trenches, and Charlie returns. Everyone feels “suddenly safer” having him back. Hanley on the other hand is not at all pleased to have Charlie back, and warns him that he’s got his eye on him.

A huge bombardment of shelling starts, which lasts for days. Tommo describes it as a “titanic duel.” All the soldiers can do is huddle in the dugout and hope that they don’t take a direct hit, as they know this would kill them all. To cope, they don’t mention the bombardment, and instead try to carry on life as “normally” as possible. At one point, Tommo lies screaming on the ground for it to stop, only for Charlie to lie next to him and start singing “Oranges and Lemons.” Soon, everyone is singing the song, but eventually they realize that even “Oranges and Lemons” cannot “drive away the terror.”

Eventually, the German troops attack, though they are mostly gunned down by the British before they can even make it to the trenches. All at once, Tommo and the others receive orders to go over the top of the trench. Tommo follows the others obediently, but suddenly finds blood pouring down his face and a “burning pain” in his head. He feels himself being “beckoned into a world [he has] never been to before, where it is warm and comforting and all-enveloping.” He knows he is dying, and “welcome[s] it.”