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Sergeant “Horrible” Hanley
Mr. Peaceful is Tommo, Charlie, and Big Joe’s father, who is tragically killed in an accident when Tommo is a young boy. Not much is revealed about Mr. Peaceful, but he was a woodchopper and died as he saved Tommo from a falling tree in the forest, which ended up crushing him instead. Due to the positioning of his body when he died, it seemed as though Mr. Peaceful’s finger was pointed directly at Tommo, as if blaming Tommo for his death. Tommo certainly interprets it in this way, and blames himself for his father’s death until the very end of the novel, when Charlie reassures him that it wasn’t his fault and dismisses his guilt as “nonsense.” It is also revealed that Mr. Peaceful loved birds, and every time Tommo sees a bird throughout the story he is reminded of his father.
Tommo’s Father / Mr. Peaceful Quotes in Private Peaceful
The Private Peaceful quotes below are all either spoken by Tommo’s Father / Mr. Peaceful or refer to Tommo’s Father / Mr. Peaceful. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
He is on his back, his face turned away from me as if he doesn’t want me to see. One arm is outstretched towards me, his glove fallen off, his finger pointing at me.
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A swallow swoops over our heads all through the prayers, all through the hymns, flitting from window to window, from the belfry to the altar, looking for some way out. And I know for certain it is Father trying to escape. I know it because he told us more than once that in his next life he’d like to be a bird, so he could fly free wherever he wanted.
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Chapter 12
Quotes
It is the moment. I have to do it now. It is my last chance. I tell him about how Father had died, about how it had happened, what I had done, how I should have told him years ago, but had never dared to. He smiles. “I always knew that, Tommo. So did Mother. You’d talk in your sleep. Always having nightmares, always keeping me awake about it, you were. All nonsense. Not your fault. It was the tree that killed Father, Tommo, not you.”
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Tommo’s Father / Mr. Peaceful Quotes in Private Peaceful
The Private Peaceful quotes below are all either spoken by Tommo’s Father / Mr. Peaceful or refer to Tommo’s Father / Mr. Peaceful. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
He is on his back, his face turned away from me as if he doesn’t want me to see. One arm is outstretched towards me, his glove fallen off, his finger pointing at me.
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
A swallow swoops over our heads all through the prayers, all through the hymns, flitting from window to window, from the belfry to the altar, looking for some way out. And I know for certain it is Father trying to escape. I know it because he told us more than once that in his next life he’d like to be a bird, so he could fly free wherever he wanted.
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Chapter 12
Quotes
It is the moment. I have to do it now. It is my last chance. I tell him about how Father had died, about how it had happened, what I had done, how I should have told him years ago, but had never dared to. He smiles. “I always knew that, Tommo. So did Mother. You’d talk in your sleep. Always having nightmares, always keeping me awake about it, you were. All nonsense. Not your fault. It was the tree that killed Father, Tommo, not you.”
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