‘The child is father to the man’ Morpurgo’s portrayal of the characters in Private Peaceful as children establishes what they will be like as adults in difficult conditions especially at war. Discuss this statement, including the extent to which you agree.
The novel ‘Private Peaceful’ written by Michael Morpurgo, is a novel that explores the life of Tommo through past and present accounts of his life. The reader is also introduced to Charlie the brother of Tommo and how they are different individuals. The novel is one that also explores the relationship is Charlie and Tommo have. It could be said that to some extent that what someone is like as a child, is how they are when they are older. This is shown in the case of Charlie. However it could be said that the way a person is as a child, is different to the way that they are seen as when they are older. An example that illustrates this is Tommo.
Charlie as a child was completely different to Tommo. Charlie was an individual and independent person as he stands up for what he believes in, he is brave, he knows his own mind, he is loyal and he doesn’t really worry about what people think of him. Charlie is also expected to look after Tommo. This was because Tommo was unable to look after himself because he was very delicate. Example of this is when Tommo is getting bashed up by Jimmy Parsons, Charlie comes to help, in the end Charlie is the one who gets punished but he just accepts it, ‘…when it’s Charlie’s turn, all we hear are the whacks’p24. Charlie was a character that stood up for what he believed in and what he believed was right. He carried this quality throughout his childhood which made him become into a man that seemed to be loyal and strong.
Charlie is a man/solider was somebody that took most of his childhood qualities to become a person who he wanted to be. Also it is shown that Charlie was expected to look after Tommo at war, just like he was when