Sunday 13 May 2012

War Horse


War Horse                                                                                                                              [Contains spoilers]
Michael Morpurgo
1982


 Recent media reports into British schoolchildren’s intelligence are, if they are to be believed, terrifying for the future of the nation. According to the BBC, British children are now learning at a slower rate than any other European nation, while another (slightly more dubious) source has claimed that three quarters of six to ten-year-olds could not locate Great Britain on an atlas.

 
As I said, these figures have possibly been adjusted to cause a moral panic. However, given the increasing amount of video games, films and television shows catering for the country’s youngsters, it would not surprise me if reading books is now a hobby enjoyed by fewer children each year. I am not saying that reading endless novels is the only way in which children can learn, but I believe that reading can be a big part of any child’s development.


Which brings me, finally, to War Horse. Written in 1982 by the brilliant Michael Morpurgo, this children’s novel documents the journey made by a horse named Joey, through the battlefields of the First World War. Joey’s owner, Albert, is too young to enlist, and so Joey has to make the harrowing trek alone.



Morpurgo’s narrative is first person, from Joey’s point of view. Giving the horse a voice is a masterstroke, as it gives the often-overlooked and never-heard, a voice. More importantly, due to Joey’s innocence and neutrality in the war, younger readers are able to get an insight into war that most war books cannot do. Joey lives with and works for both English and German soldiers during the novel and is treated well by Englishmen and Germans alike. He is also on occasion mistreated by characters. Once again though, there are no distinctions between the trenches.


This is crucial to help children understand that in warfare, the soldiers fighting against British soldiers aren’t the ‘baddies’. They are doing their duty, just as the British are doing theirs. Of the many war novels I have read, none portray both sides of the trench quite as effectively as War Horse, and the fact that it is written for children means that it is a great starter for younger readers to understand war.


War Horse has all of the traits of a war novel and they are sensitively handled by an author very adept at writing about difficult issues. The most moving death in the book is not, in my opinion, that of any human, but of Joey’s companion and friend, the horse Topthorn. Joey is devastated by Topthorn’s death and risks his own demise by staying with his fellow horse's body. Once more, the innocence of the animals is exposed, highlighting the sheer futility of war. This senselessness is further summarised by a German soldier, believed by his comrades to be mad because he talks to himself and his horses. He says:

‘It’s the others that are mad, but they don’t know it. They fight a war and they don’t know what for. Isn’t that crazy? How can one man kill another and not really know the reason why he does it, except that the man wears a different colour uniform and speaks in a different language? And they call me mad!’

There can be no arguing with "mad old Friedrich" here. Ultimately, the man who is one of the most sane characters in the trenches is killed. Friedrich had to be claimed by the war; surviving would have lessened the importance of his words. War has no mercy and Morpurgo makes that clear with the man's death.



Overall, I believe that Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse is a fantastically poignant and important children’s book. If the country’s youth are to flourish and understand the world around them, instead of wandering aimlessly and ignorantly into their future, Morpurgo is required reading. His writing has a gentle, yet brilliantly important message behind it, and leaves the reader, whether they are children or adults (there are many people who are older who could gain a thing or two from War Horse) thinking about his stories for days after.

1 comment:

  1. I remember reading it when I was younger, but it made me cry, so I only read it the once...it was good though, great review :)

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