The Colonel Character Analysis

One of the novel’s antagonists, the Colonel is a mean-spirited man who owns the grand estate in the village. The Peaceful family live in a cottage he owns (prior to his death, Mr. Peaceful worked for the Colonel), and Mrs. Peaceful, Molly, and Charlie all work for him at some point. He is cruel and spiteful to the Peacefuls, just as he is cruel to everyone else around him. Unfortunately, because of his powerful position, he largely gets away with everything he does. He knows he can force Charlie to enlist in the army, for instance, because he can evict the Peacefuls from their cottage and fire Mrs. Peaceful and Molly from his employment if Charlie should refuse. When Charlie earlier dares to steal the Colonel’s dog, Bertha, the Colonel fires Charlie, and later kills Bertha out of spite. There is nothing the Peacefuls can do about his actions, because he owns their home and supports their livelihoods. He also has a lot of power and influence within the wider community, meaning that at one point he manages to turn Molly’s mother and Molly’s father against Charlie by telling them that Charlie is a thief. Molly is banned from seeing Charlie another as a result, just as the Colonel intended. He is also particularly full of himself: Mrs. Peaceful later reports in a letter that if one were to listen to everything The Colonel says, you’d think “he could win [the] war all by himself.”