Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo
Publication details
Michael Morpurgo (2003) Private Peaceful London: Collins
Curriculum Context
Private Peaceful would be appropriate for use in Upper KS2 or KS3. It would fit the ranges: Novels by significant children's writers (Y5); fiction by long-established authors and comparison of work by significant children's authors (Y6).
It would support the History curriculum, particularly Historical Interpretation: Pupils should be taught that the past is represented and interpreted in different ways and to give reasons for this. I have also given suggestions for using Art (Represent ideas and feelings and design and make images) and PSHE (talk and write about their opinions; to recognise how relationships change) to explore and develop ideas and themes from the book.
Private Peaceful can be read alongside other novels, stories and poems written about and during the First World War. At KS2 these might include Michael Morpurgo's The Best Christmas Present in the World and War Horse. Suitable texts for KS3 include Charles Yale Harrison's Generals Die in Bed and Theresa Breslin Remembrance.
Synopsis
The book follows the life of the Peaceful brothers, Tommo and Charlie, from growing up in rural England to fighting on the battlefields of the First World War. Tommo looks up to his older brother Charlie, who is always there to look after him. The age gap between them causes difficulties for Tommo when Charlie moves away from the world of childhood and school, and begins to take on an adult role in the family, particularly as he begins a relationship with Molly, whom both brothers love. When Charlie is forced to join up, Tommo enlists too, although he is under-age.
Charlie quickly makes an enemy of Sergeant Hanley by challenging his authority and refusing to follow what Charlie sees as the inhuman rules of army life. His courage and resilience in battle soon earn him the respect of the other members of his company. Amidst the horrors of the trenches he continues to be a big brother to Tommo and even to his comrades. Chance brings Sergeant Hanley back to command them and at a crucial point in an attack, Charlie refuses to leave Tommo who is injured and to obey what he sees as Hanley's suicidal order to advance. Charlie is arrested and subsequently executed for cowardice.
Themes and Issues
> Remembrance and the responsibility we have to remember
> The power exerted by authority over individual lives
> Relationships and the different bonds of family, friends and authority
> Changing relationships between siblings
> Death
> War – Michael Morpurgo describes both the physical and mental horrors of the trenches vividly
Characters
> Tommo, the narrator
> Charlie, his eldest brother
> Joe, the oldest brother, brain-damaged by meningitis
> Molly, a childhood friend of both boys and ultimately Charlie's wife
> Mother
> The colonel, for whom the boy's father worked until he was killed in an accident, owner of the tied cottage and therefore able to exert influence on the lives of the Peaceful family.
> Grandma Wolf, a rather sinister 'storybook' character who appears important in their younger lives but whom they realise as they get older has no real power over their family.
> Sergeant Hanley, the cruel sergeant who does not treat his soldiers as human beings; Charlie's adversary and his antithesis.
> Mr Munnings, school teacher and precursor of Sergeant Hanley
Settings
The main narrative takes place in pre-war rural Devon and war-torn France and Belgium.
Structure
There are two narratives; the framing narrative which is written in the present tense and takes place during one night and the main narrative which is mostly past tense but moves to present tense at key moments.
Each chapter is headed with a time between five-past-ten one evening and one minute to six the following morning. The first part of each chapter continues the framing narrative and provides reflective comments and links between the recollections of the main narrative.
The main narrative recounts the life story of the Peaceful brothers as remembered by Tommo Peaceful. This continues chronologically, but is always coloured by the allusions to imminent death in the framing narrative. This main narrative is in two parts:
Part One
Opening: Father's death for which Tommo feels responsible, Tommo's first day at school
Inciting moment: Tommo gets into a fight at school with a boy who is insulting Joe, Charlie defends him and is beaten by the teacher for fighting. Molly declares her solidarity and becomes their friend.
Development: Tommo, Molly and Charlie grow up learning through experience about the rules that govern their lives because of their social position.
Climax: Tommo discovers that, despite their friendship being forbidden by the colonel and Molly's family, Charlie and Molly have been seeing each other. Tommo feels that "in finding each other, [they] had deserted me."
Denouement: Molly is pregnant. They marry.
Ending: Charlie has to enlist, Tommo persuades Molly that he should also enlist to look after his brother and keep him out of trouble.
Part Two
Opening: Training in England and travelling to Belgium
Inciting moment: Charlie, defending Tommo, clashes with Sergeant Hanley
Development: Charlie proves his worth as a brother, friend and soldier in the horrors of the trenches
Climax: In a devastating battle, Charlie chooses to stay with the injured Tommo and refuses to obey Hanley's order to advance
Denouement: We discover that the framing narrative has been Tommo waiting, not for his own death but that of Charlie who is being executed at dawn for cowardice
Ending: Tommo finally talks to Charlie about their father's death and promises to take responsibility for Molly and the baby. But he remains in Belgium anticipating a march to the battle of the Somme. Our knowledge as a reader of what this may mean challenges us to accept an ending in which nothing can be resolved. There can be only "horror and regret and great sadness" and for Tommo (and of course the active reader) a greater understanding of self.
The parallels between the parts of the book are emphasised by the use of images and symbols including birds, crows, poaching, stars and mud.
Narration and Point of View
The story is narrated in first person by Tommo. The framing narrative makes it clear that his recollections are coloured by the imminence of death and this influences our reading. We know that the recollections will be significant to the framing narrative and therefore can begin to identify themes, parallels and symbols. The device of the framing narrative also enables the early lives of the Peaceful boys to be given both adult and child perspectives. We see Charlie through the loving and admiring eyes of Tommo who puts his 'scrapes' into context and reveals a strong sense of fair play and loyalty. Other views of Charlie are revealed through minor characters, but these are overridden for Tommo by a growing respect for Charlie's steadfastness. The final denouement may make us reconsider the narrator's intention and reliability.
Teaching suggestions
Literacy
Story openings
Read the opening of Private Peaceful. It raises more questions than it answers. Consider the readerly gap by asking children to work in pairs to create questions which are provoked by reading the opening. Ask them to discuss how this affects them as a reader. Consider other books which use the same technique and compare this opening with that of other Michael Morpurgo books, e.g Kensuke's Kingdom.
Read the first chapter of the book. Discuss the key events and consider why they have been included in this opening chapter. Draw conclusions about the possible themes of the book. Draw attention to the structure of the narrative which allows two viewpoints, the child and the reflective adult. Identify these two working side by side.
Narrative structure and chronology
Map out the story on two time lines, one for the framing story, which takes place over a night, and one for the main narrative, which spans Tommo's life from 5-17. This could be done on post-it notes. Identify the links and parallels between the two stories and note how half the book deals with the period before the war and Tommo's life from 5-16 years and half deals with the period during the war, Tommo's life from 16-17 years. This is useful for noticing how variations in narrative chronology affect the reader's responses. The time line can then be used to investigate and mark out other key events and changes, for example the changing role of the brothers within their family, the fortunes of the family, the changing relationship between the brothers.
The drama technique of Parallel Scenes could be used to explore the connections between the two parts of the story – for example a scene with Mr Munnings could be played alongside a scene with Sergeant Hanley.
Characters
The title of the book implies one person but in fact is two and emphasises the importance of the relationship between Charlie and Tommo.
Ask children to map out the development of the relationship between the brothers. Notice how the book starts with Charlie promising, "I'll look after you" and the assertion by Tommo "That I do believe because he always has." Chart Tommo's development as he begins to find the age gap difficult and he becomes jealous of Charlie's move into the adult worlds of work and love. Notice how, after much persuading, Tommo's argument that he will look after Charlie –"who's always getting himself into nasty scrapes" – is the one which convinces Molly that Tommo should enlist with Charlie. Charlie continues to protect Tommo, which gets him into trouble, but Tommo loyally sticks by him too. Eventually in battle Charlie becomes a big brother to everyone.
Consider the importance of some of the other characters and how they are presented. Collect ideas and evidence in reading journals about how character is revealed through dialogue, action, and description (including setting and imagery). As a group share findings and draw some conclusions about what you have found out about Michael Morpurgo as a writer. What techniques does he use to define his characters? How convincing are they? Whose eyes are we seeing them through?
Exploring viewpoints and response
Explore the character of Charlie from the viewpoint of different characters in the text. Find reasons or evidence in the text? Are all the points of view equally valid? Enact the trial scene, with characters from Charlie's past as witnesses giving evidence about his character. Question whether Tommo is a reliable witness. What motivations might he have for presenting only one side of the story?
Exploring issues
Consider the attitudes of different characters to authority. Mother demonstrates a clear-minded view of what is right and what is wrong, from the incident with the rabbit droppings to her encounters with Grandma Wolf and the Colonel. Compare her reactions to authority with those of Charlie. Think about their motivations. What are they prepared to risk losing for standing by their convictions? What are the consequences (and possible consequences) of their choices and actions?
Use forum theatre to explore the possible choices, particularly those made by Charlie at key moments in the text when he confronts and disobeys Sergeant Hanley.
Comparisons with other texts
Read Michael Morpurgo's War Horse and Friend and Foe to compare the different treatments of the same war theme. A comparison with Kensuke's Kingdom could explore story openings and themes of growing up, remembrance and the bonds of friendship.
Further reading could include other children's stories written about war which show the effect of war on children's lives. Carrie's War by Nina Bawden is particularly interesting because of the additional perspective given by the adult narrator in the framing narrative and the sense of personal responsibility for death.
Art
Consider the themes of the book and the strong visual images used by Morpurgo throughout the book. Ask children to design a book cover for the book which does not depict war overtly but uses ideas or images from the book to convey the mood or themes of the book.
Choose one of the very visual passages of the book: (e.g. pp.8-9, p.56, p.84, p.86 p.104, p.138) and illustrate it. Discuss how Michael Morpurgo uses language to create such strong visual and emotional pictures – word choice, figurative language. Think about using techniques such as colour and framing to convey mood.
History
War
In Private Peaceful, Michael Morpurgo reveals the source of his story, interviews with three farm boy veterans and says "there was no poetry in their stories, only horror and regret and sadness". He chooses to call his narrator Tommo, a name which implies an everyman character. Anna, the girl in France, seems to emphasise this when he introduces himself and she says "Every English soldier is called Tommy".
Compare the ideologies represented by characters, for example, the recruiting sergeant, the colonel, Charlie and Tommo.
> How is the war presented by Michael Morpurgo?
> How are his values and beliefs shown through the presentation of the characters and events?
> What knowledge do readers bring to the story and how does it affect their reading of it?
> Ask children to consider how their feelings about war or the First World War changed as a result of reading the book?
Historical evidence
On the book jacket read 'A Soldier's Declaration' and the quote from Morpurgo which cites his inspiration and reasons for writing the book. From this starting point, ask children to work in groups and set each group a task to use different sources to find out about the war: facts about Siegfried Sassoon; data about men shot for cowardice; propaganda (the Colonel cites 'patriotic duty'); data about numbers killed and local evidence about the effect on families; information about wartime at home; war poetry which echoes themes in the book. Regroup children using the jigsaw strategy. Begin to consider Michael Morpurgo's intentions in writing this book.
Exploring issues through role play
Charlie is very clear about his attitude to the war. His response when he hears about those who have enlisted is:
"More fool them. I'm not going, not ever. I'll shoot a rat because it might bite me. I'll shoot a rabbit because I can eat it. Why should I ever want to shoot a German? Never even met a German."
Tommo is unsure about his motivation and reflects on the many influences that inform his decision to go to war: staying with Charlie; adventure; the stirring call to arms; his love for his family and countryside; the taunts of cowardice from the old woman in the town.
Ask the children to adopt roles of the characters in the book, and consider their motivation for persuading Charlie and Tommo to go to war or not (other villagers can also be given a voice – e.g. mother whose son has already joined up). Use evidence in text as a starting point for the role-play. The technique of conscience alley could be used or children could freeze frame key moments in the journey to war – taking leave of familiar places, family, friends, on board the train and provide dialogue and contrast this with thought-tracking. This could be developed into a debate in role, using persuasive argument. Finally Charlie and Tommo could be hot-seated to consider their feelings and responses.
PSHE
Consideration of issues in the text will support children's work in PSHE, particularly 'Myself and my Relationships'.
Children can relate character study to the personal selection of role models. Discussion about the qualities which they admire could lead back to the character of Charlie and help children identify the qualities which lead to his love of Molly, Tommo and his army friends. Children could explore things which make a relationship like this stronger and things which could break it.
Discussion about the behaviour of characters like Mr Munnings, Sergeant Hanley, the Colonel and Grandma Wolf, can help children reflect on different kinds of bullying and the actions that can be taken to stop it. Identification and comparison of easy and difficult options could lead children to reflect on similar incidents and responses in their own lives. Working in role, they might explore critical moments in the story and the different outcomes that might emerge from changing characters' responses to situations.
ICT
Creating a multimedia presentation
Ask children to create a multimedia presentation to inform another class about World War One and the origins of Remembrance Day. Children could research additional information from the internet and other sources. The multimedia presentation could include music, sounds, images, text and spoken phrases or extracts from the text. Children could include the images and symbols which Michael Morpurgo uses to link the two settings.
