Private Peaceful is a historical fiction novel written by Michael Morpurgo. The story is set in the homefront, school, and battlefront during World War I. This story revolves around the powerless Peaceful brothers, Charlie and Tommo, who face injustice between people who have power and people who do not. Throughout the novel, Morpurgo tells a message to the readers that the rich and powerful victimise the poor and the weak.
One way Morpurgo demonstrates the conflict between the powerful and the weak is the situation on the battlefront. On the battlefront, Sergeant Hanley acts in a very harsh and a mean way, and he says to Charlie “You’re a blot of creation.” (Morpurgo, 117) This makes the impression of the battlefront very bad for the soldiers and causes them to have no control over anything they want to do. Everything has to be done lined up with the other soldiers, even shaving, inspections, sleeping, eating, training, etc. This leads to the Peaceful boys’
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One day in the dugout in no man 's land, the English soldiers are commanded by Sergeant Hanley to attack the German trenches. Charlie disobeys this command since he wants to stay and help Tommo who is injured. This leads Charlie to face a court martial for cowardice. When Charlie attends the court martial, the only witness he has to speak for him is Sergeant Hanley as the other soldiers have been moved to another sector, and the judges believe Tommo’s statements would be biased, being Charlie’s brother. (Morpurgo, 185~194) This way, the judgement of Charlie’s life is made in half an hour, based on unfair and unjust statements.
Throughout the book, “Private Peaceful”, Michael Morpurgo, portray us a message of injustice in three parallel situations, school, homefront, and the battlefront. The battlefront exposes the injustice of the relationship between powerful and powerless people. This story also demonstrates the powerful victimise the poor and