A Soldier's Heart Quotes

Charley Goddard is fifteen and all he wants is to become a man. He joins the “shooting war” to become a man, even though joining is not legal for him. Have you ever been willing to do anything just to prove yourself to yourself. Charley does. The war is a big decision for a fifteen year old. It is something that you have to think about. Charley did not really think about it. He just decided he was going.

I feel that since Charley is so young going into the war he will change. I think Charley will be forced to do some jurassic horrifying thing that the human mind can’t get over. He will be forced to do something really scarring. This memory will replay in his mind over and over again. He will constantly wish he was not in the war. Since in my prediction he does something terrible I think that he will grow up and become a man. A child/teenager would not come out of the war without growing up. As a result in this, I feel that Charley will develop a “Soldier’s Heart”. According to page XV in the book a Soldier’s Heart, “While the same horrors existed as those in modern war being born then, the wholesale killing by men using raw firepower, was very new and so misunderstood.” This is talking about how killing other men
He will not run away. Running away from the war would make him more of a child, not a man. The entire reason why he went into the war was to become a man. He won’t quit on it. If he quits he becomes less of a man in many people's eyes. On page two of Soldier's Heart the text states that, “Charley couldn’t join where they knew him. Somebody would spill the beans and he’s get sent back or used as a runner or drummer boy. He wasn’t a boy. He was going to sign up as a man and he knew a way to do it.” This is talking about how Charley believes he is a man. If Charley wanted to be sent home he would've joined where they knew him. He purposely avoided his home town so no one suspected he was younger than the age