Private Peaceful Essay

‘Private Peaceful’ by Michael Morpurgo explores the brutality of war and the devastation brought about by those who wage it. Essentially, it is a novel that condemns war. Morpurgo uses Charlie’s court martial and the actions of his superiors and authority figures to emphasise the unjust and pointless nature of war, along with Tommo’s experiences as a soldier in battle to illustrate the destructiveness of conflict. Overall, Morpurgo highlights the outcome of the war to demonstrate its general ineffectiveness and wastefulness. Ultimately, it is through this awareness that Morpurgo condemns war.
A key thematic element throughout ‘Private Peaceful’ is injustice. Morpurgo uses Charlie’s court martial and the actions of the authority figures in charge of it to depict the unjust and pointless nature of war. Although Charlie was trying to protect his brother when he was court martialled, the judges made their decision in less than an hour, the extenuating circumstances were not taken into account and Charlie was still found guilty. As a result, there is a sense in the text that the reasons for Charlie’s actions – and indeed Charlie himself – are of no real concern to the authority figures who carry his fate in their hands. Sergeant Hanley, a brigadier, and the two captains think Charlie is a “mutinous trouble maker” and so have prejudged him beforehand. Charlie is aware of this bias. He believes the judges thought he “…was guilty before [he] even sat
He condemns war and wants it to stop. Morpurgo demonstrates this through his text, ‘Private Peaceful’ through the key theme of injustice in war, the darkness and brutality of harrowing events and the reasoning that war doesn’t solve anything. Therefore, it is through this perception that Morpurgo condemns war. As the famous American politician, Jimmy Carter says “War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary it is always an evil, never a