Cruelty and Power Theme Analysis

From the vicious Grandma Wolf, to the hard-hearted Colonel, to the vindictive Sergeant Hanley, bullies are a constant presence throughout Private Peaceful. The bullies in this novel are spiteful characters who seem incapable of kindness and whose actions—if left unchecked—can have devastating consequences: Hanley’s cruelty for instance, when combined with his position of power, directly leads to Charlie’s death. The novel thus underscores the danger in placing a cruel and manipulative person in a position of power.

Grandma Wolf is the first bully in Tommo’s life. She is always cruel to Mrs. Peaceful’s children, calling them names and making “nasty quip[s]” about their mother. She is especially mean to the innocent Big Joe, killing his beloved mouse and all of his other treasured pets. Even on happy occasions, such as the birth of Molly’s baby, Little Tommo, Grandma Wolf finds a way to make a spiteful comment, in this instance claiming that the baby has pointed ears.

Unfortunately for the Peaceful family, and for the inhabitants of their village, Grandma Wolf continues to gain more and more power throughout the story. When she leaves the Peaceful home, she moves up to the Colonel’s grand estate and becomes the Colonel’s mistress. She ends up in charge of much of the running of the estate, making the Colonel himself seem “gentle as a lamb,” and using her power to make everyone on the estate miserable. Molly, who works at the estate, claims that she “hates it” because of the way the “Wolfwoman” treats everyone. She spends most of her time “ranting and raving” at everyone and punishing them for minor offences such as putting “salt in her tea instead of sugar.”

The Colonel is another bully within the story who is nevertheless afforded a position of power, but the consequences of his authority are worse than those of Grandma Wolf’s. A spiteful man from the beginning of the novel, he calls the children “lousy vermin” and “young ruffians,” and fires Charlie from his job just for rescuing Bertha, an old dog who was going to be killed anyway. Eventually he shoots Bertha purely out of spite, just because he can, because he knows he holds sufficient power over the Peaceful family, in owning their cottage, that there is nothing they can do about it.

Perhaps the worst of his offences, though, is forcing Charlie to go to war, which will ultimately be the cause of Charlie’s death. The Colonel orders Charlie to enlist, claiming that if he doesn’t, he will kick the Peacefuls off the estate and fire them from their jobs working for him. Charlie cannot believe it, saying in shock, “He can’t do it. He just can’t,” to which Molly, his girlfriend, replies, “he can. You know he can. And when the Colonel gets it into his head to do something, and he’s in the mood to do it, he will.”

The reader is aware at this point that the Colonel has a personal vendetta against the Peacefuls and is likely ordering Charlie to war just to hurt the family because he knows that Molly has just fallen pregnant. The malicious Colonel is able to enforce his spiteful will on the slightest of whims, illustrating the danger of awarding such a spiteful man with such apparently untouchable power.

The most serious case of abuse of power, however, comes in the form of Sergeant Hanley, who is horrifically cruel to Charlie and is ultimately personally responsible for Charlie’s execution. Hanley instantly dislikes Charlie because he won’t “jump through hoops” for the Sergeant like everyone else, and he forms a personal vendetta against Charlie that won’t end until Charlie’s death. Hanley is able to personally orchestrate Charlie’s execution because no one questions his authority, and the other men involved in the trial listen only to Hanley’s accusations, taking his word as gospel, instead of considering Charlie’s defense. Through the figure of Hanley, Morpurgo demonstrates the terrible consequences of allowing a bullying, malicious person into a position of utmost and official authority. Army officials were, and indeed remain, responsible for millions of lives. If the wrong person is awarded this power, sometimes the consequences can be fatal.