Medal of Honor Symbol Analysis

Mr. Solway’s Medal of Honor represents the gap between someone’s reputation and their sense of self. The medal first appears in the novel when 13-year-old Chase Ambrose, suffering from amnesia after a bad concussion, is doing community service for delinquent behavior he can’t even remember. Mr. Solway, who lives in the facility, has a picture of himself receiving the medal from President Truman in his room at the assisted living facility where Chase does community service. Chase, curious about history, begins pursing a friendship with Mr. Solway. Eventually, Mr. Solway confesses to Chase that he thinks the behavior that won him the medal—opening the hatch of an enemy tank and tossing a grenade inside—was idiotically dangerous and not what he would have done if he’d had time to reflect. Moreover, he found the ensuing violence so traumatic that his brain has repressed the memory; he can’t remember the event that won him the medal. While Mr. Solway has a reputation as a brave man and a war hero, then, that reputation doesn’t accord with his sense of self.

Later, Chase learns that, prior to his amnesia-causing accident, he stole the medal from Mr. Solway’s room and hid it. The theft of the medal represents everything that was negative about Chase’s pre-amnesia personality, on which his bad reputation is based. When Chase learns that he stole Mr. Solway’s medal, he decides that his current sense of self doesn’t accord with his past destructive behavior or bad reputation. He thus decides to give the medal back. By getting rid of the medal—returning it to Mr. Solway and accepting blame for the theft—Chase addresses the gap between his reputation and his sense of self, which the medal symbolizes: he brings his outward actions into line with the person he thinks he is.