Levitt Character Analysis in The Wars

Robert Ross’s fellow junior officer who becomes one of his bunkmates in the dugout at St. Eloi. He is helpful and resourceful, risking his own life to save Robert and Willie Poole from drowning in the muddy ditches. Despite this, Robert reflects that Levitt acts out of cold practicality rather than genuine courage. Levitt’s knapsack is full of books; he is particularly obsessed with reading Clausewitz on War, a military strategy book which Findley quotes in the epigraph of the novel. After the dugout is bombed in the battle of St. Eloi, Levitt is driven mad and becomes catatonic.

Levitt Quotes in The Wars

The The Wars quotes below are all either spoken by Levitt or refer to Levitt. 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:

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Poole said: “You needn’t worry about the Germans here, sir. They’re a long ways off yet. At least as much as two miles or more.”

Levitt said: “Oh.” He seemed somehow demoralized by this news. Perhaps he thought you weren’t in the war unless the enemy could shoot you. In this he was much like everyone else who’d just arrived. You weren’t a real soldier unless you were in jeopardy.

Related Characters: Levitt (speaker), Willie Poole (speaker), Robert Ross

Related Symbols: The Four Elements

Page Number and Citation: 84

Explanation and Analysis: