Michael Morpurgo is one of the unique writers that focus on feelings and emotions. For example, his book ‘Private Peaceful’ which shows his own method of describing everything in detail, Private Peaceful really stand out within his 100 other books, as it was his last out of the 100 other. This book is really unique as it represents the chapters as time to the biggest event in the story. Private Peaceful focuses on the life of threesome-Tommo, Charlie and Molly and how they are separated by World War I.
Private Peaceful links to many social devices used nowadays in media such as propaganda which helped persuaded the harmless teenagers by informing them how they will get food, shelter and how all the girls like soldiers. The novel can easily be linked with other poems and stories written in World War I as well. Michael Morpurgo did a fabulous job in choosing the characters. Tommo is really sheepish, Charlie always stands for his brother and Molly the cute one that fights for her love.
In this essay, the relationship between the threesome will be analysed. Tommo and Charlie is a perfect example of powerful brotherhood. First of all, when it was Tommo’s first day at school and he was petrified but Charlie took him by the hand and tried to comfort him.
The statement that shows this is “He sees my eyes full of tears and knows how it Charlie always knows how it is.” Not only there, when Big Jimmy Parsons was making fun of Big Joe and Tommo try to punch him but failed and Charlie stood up for him moreover, he got six strokes which was so clear in his book “But when it’s Charlie’s turn, all we hear are the whacks, and then the silences in between.
I am so proud of him for that. I have the bravest brother in the world.” Later, when they were outpouching and Tommo got caught, but Charlie stayed and this was an important point to pause and reflect how the characters react “Charlie could have left me there. He could have made a run for it and got clean away, but Charlie’s not like that. He never has been.”The boys’ relation got weaker by the time, how they left school and Charlie started working and after that, the marriage followed by the war as he mentioned this in “It was becoming evident to me that the gap between us was more serious, and that it was widening.”On the other hand, when Tommo decided to go with Charlie to war, it became clear for Charlie that Tommo still cares about him. That resulted in the reconstruction of their relationship and renovate what they have done in their childhood like getting in trouble together. It was declared in “Even if I wanted to, I can’t go with you because I’d have to leave Tommo behind, and I can’t do that.” This was when Sergeant Hanley ordered him to run with the group back to the trenches and frightened him with his rifle).
Tommo’s relationship with Molly didn’t develop as Charlie… as he wanted it to be since he is an innocent lamb, his It all began on the first day at school when he didn’t know how to tie his laces and Molly taught him. That left an impact on Tommo which is accessible in ”After only a short while I find I can do it. It’s untidy, and it’s loose, but I can do it. Best of all, from across the school yard, Molly sees I can do it and smiles at me.” Soon, Molly was one of the family and they enjoyed being together especially Tommo but later he felt left out due to the age gap between Charlie, Tommo and Molly. Molly preferred to be with Charlie. Subsequently, they began their love story by letters and Tommo was their go-between postman. He was excited but he didn’t know that they were meeting without telling him and he was heartbroken in page 72 when the narrator said. “I couldn’t believe what he was saying. They hadn’t told me. They’d been meeting in secret and neither of them had told me.” After that, Tommo tried to avoid talking to Molly but he couldn’t avoid thinking about her and how he was dumb loving her. “The two people I most loved in the world, who, in finding each other, had deserted me.” In the line above it showed when soon, Charlie and she were married. In his worst moments, he usually thought of Molly …when he was about to die. “I’m praying and thinking of Molly. If I’m going to die I want her to be my last thought.” He also thought of Anna as Molly which doesn’t show his love to Anna but show how he want to relate to home. At the end, he discovers that he still love her no matter what.
Charlie and Molly, both share some characteristics and that what helped their relationship and their comfort for each other bloom. At the beginning, it had nothing to do neither with Tommo nor with her love to Charlie but when they discover their similarities and hobbies, a small red heart begins to formulate around them. Firstly, when they saw their first aeroplane together, when they were pouching together, when they were working together. “She and Charlie lived in another world now.” Charlie always tried to impress Molly by being brave and strong and by fighting for their ‘Friendship’. For example, when he faced her parents or when Molly got ill which was understandable in “Charlie and I never said our prayers at all anymore, not since Sunday school, but we did now. Kneeling side by side with Big Joe we prayed each night that Molly would not die.” At the end, he became sure that he made the right choice and he told his brother and best friend to look after her. That shows his love to her.
Michael Morpurgo as usual depends on the variety of techniques to get the point across with the supreme description. In the first chapter, alliteration was the most used, this effects the reader directly, by slowing his speed which lead to the reader’s reflection as he go through the book. For example, “By a gaggle of giggling girls”. Moreover, he adds imagery such as “She has hair the same colour as Billyboy.” He shows the feature critically which help the story to come to life.
Tommo, Charlie, and Molly in Private Peaceful. (2022, May 10). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/the-relationship-between-tommo-charlie-and-molly-in-private-peaceful-a-book-by-michael-morpurgo/