Themes, motifs, and symbols

Themes: an idea that recurs in or pervades a work

Courage- the youth and the Loud soldier both show courage during the story because they fight through it all and also ever soldier that fights shows their courage.

Manhood- I think that the Loud soldier became a man because of the war towards the end of the book he was no longer loud he was so different in a good way. The Youth also showed his manhood because he no longer was just a child he was a man because of the war.

Self-preservation- everyone who fought in the war had self-preservation because the war just changes you from what I have read in the story, it will scar you for life but it will also make you stronger and believe in yourself because you have to believe in yourself to fight.

Disregard for Human Life- When you go to war you pretty much have to find out were you think you will be going after life and be okay with death because they don’t give you a 50/50 chance of living or dying its either you life through it or you don’t.

Motifs: distinctive feature or dominant idea

Noise and Silence- there was always noise all around, sounds of gun shots and battle, it only seemed to be quiet when henry was sleeping or when he was in his own state of mind during the whole battle and everything around him was happing but in his mind he was silent and almost going slow motion.

Light and Dark- during the night they never really slept, and also it didn’t really matter if it was night or day because no matter what you could always hear gun fire and sound of battle.

Clean and Dirty- i think that clean is when henry became mature because he seemed to know what to do

Youth and Maturity- I think that in the story the war made them become more mature.

Symbols: objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas.

The Dead Soldier- I didn’t really know this one, I think that when they saw the dead soldier it some what scared them because they hadn’t really fought yet and before they fought they saw kind of a symbol of what it was like and that was the dead soldier.

The Flag- I think that it showed honor for those who fight in war.