Private Peaceful Essay
Damian Ferenc 3G
In 'Private Peaceful' by Michael Morpurgo the author shows how men would be persuaded to volunteer to go to World War I in the chapter when the recruiting band came to the small town of Hatherleigh.
Morpurgo makes it clear that the arrival of the band creates great excitement by writing: "drums pounding, bugles blaring. Everyone in the market went running". You can tell that it was something different for the villagers because they have never seen anything like it. They were stuck in this small village being farmers, maids, housewives etc. wearing mostly dirty and dull clothes and when they seen the soldiers the were amazed by their scarlet uniforms: "buttons and boots shining". "women throwing flowers that were falling at the soldiers' feet. The soldiers were singing along with the band: "It's a long way to Tipperary, it's a long way to go."
The men were probably kind of jealous and though to themselves "We want thatâ¦we want to wear these splendid uniforms, be adored by women and look like lords". The men would think about the time that they came back from the war, that they would be heroes, that the whole village and their families would be dead proud of them. Plus they would receive the King's shilling which was a lot in those times. The band played God Save the King and the union Jack was fluttering behind them. This created a worm patriotic mood.
When the Sergeant major addresses the crowd he uses a 'commanding' and 'rasping' voice which suggests he is kind of demanding them to join. The Sergeant was pointing his stick into the crowd picking out the men: "You, and you and you". Which suggested he wanted especially them to join and that...