Henry’s
regiment marches to some trenches to relieve another group of
soldiers. The noise of various skirmishes is loud. Guns are
roaring. Rumors spread that their army has been defeated. The
regiment then marches through the woods, as Henry complains
loudly about the incompetence of the generals. He and Wilson
agree that the regiment fights hard. Wilson says they do not
have any luck, and Henry persists in blaming the generals. But
after another soldier makes a sarcastic remark to him, he feels
threatened and keeps quiet. The troops halt in a clearing in
the woods. They know a battle is imminent, and the lieutenant
berates his men for arguing too much. There is rifle fire from
the thicket in front of the regiment. The battle is upon them.
Henry fumes with
rage and exasperation. He wants to rest, not fight. As he waits
with his fingers on his rifle, he conceives a hatred for the
enemy. As the battle gets underway, he is conscious only of
this hate, and his desire to crush the enemy. He determines
to hold his position whatever happens, and he fires his rifle
with ferocity. He does not even notice when there is a lull
in the battle. He stands alone, still firing. When the smoke
clears he sees that the ground ahead of him is deserted. The
enemy has retreated. The lieutenant offers him high praise,
and his comrades look admiringly on him as a “war devil.”
When Henry reflects on what has happened, he is struck by how
easy it was for him. He had fought like a beast, and become
a hero. But he knows nothing of how it had all happened. As
for the other men in the regiment, they are jubilant, and celebrate
their victory with pride.
Analysis
Henry continues to discover more about himself. Earlier, after
long pondering the question of how he would react in a battle,
he had found he was capable of an act of cowardice. Now, he
shows he is also capable of acting courageously. He is so intent
on the battle that he loses all sense of danger and is barely
conscious of what he is doing. He discovers for himself the
truth of what he had been told before he had ever tasted combat:
“The youth had been taught that a man became another thing
in a battle. He saw his salvation in such a change.” This
reflection comes in chapter 3, just before the battle in which
Henry runs away. As a coward, Henry was like a condemned man.
Now, after his feats on the battlefield, he is like a man who
has been saved.
This section also
marks the beginning of the bond that forms between Henry and
the lieutenant. Earlier, Henry had regarded the lieutenant with
distaste, as a crude man, quite the opposite of himself. But
the lieutenant, whatever he may of thought of Henry, now regards
him with admiration, saying that if he had ten thousand “wild
cats” like Henry, he could win the war in less than a
week. |
