The story is of a young teenager named Thomas "Tommo" Peaceful, who tells the story in account format from the past to the present day events of his experiences living in the village of Iddesleigh during World War I. His oldest brother, Big Joe, has learning difficulties and is always looked out for by his younger brothers. The earlier part of the story tells of his doings before the war, the tale of his love for Molly – a beautiful girl he met on his first day at school and grew to love – and Charlie Peaceful, Tommo's brother. .
The trio had grown up together; their mischievous adventures included braving the beastly Grandma Wolf to their mother's despair and skinny-dipping. The latter left a large impression on Tommo. Charlie, being older than Tommo, had always protected and looked out for his younger brother. Also, he and Molly become closer as they are both older than Tommo, while Tommo begins to become left out. Later on, it is revealed that Molly and Charlie were secretly seeing each other, and that Molly had become pregnant with Charlie's child.
Tommo became extremely heartbroken after the couple married a short time later in the village church, before Tommo and Charlie were forced off to Belgium to fight in World War I. All through this time, Tommo recorded his feelings in the novel. The rest of the story describes the brothers' experiences of the war: their Sergeant Hanley, the near misses during battle on the front line, and Charlie's continued protection of Tommo.
During a charge of the German lines, Charlie disobeys a direct order from Sergeant Hanley and stays with Tommo while he is injured on No-man's-land. As a result, Charlie is accused of cowardice and given a court martial. The book's chapters countdown to dawn when Charlie will be executed. At dawn, Charlie is marched before the firing squad, where he dies happily singing their favourite childhood song. Oranges and Lemons
Tommo ends the story in the present tense with Charlie's execution and the promise of looking after Charlie and Molly's new baby, Little Tommo.
Characters:
Tommo Charlie
Joe Molly
Mother Grandma Wolf
Sergeant Hanley Mr Munnings
A brief description of Tommo:
Thomas Peaceful is a young teen from Iddesleigh village in Devon, England. He is the youngest of three brothers. When Thomas is very young, he and his father go out to cut some wood. A tree falls, right where Thomas is standing. Thomas's father yells at him to run, but he doesn't, being frozen in place by fear. When his father throws Thomas out of the way, the tree falls on his father instead. Thomas never tells anyone exactly how it happened, but holds onto this terrible secret his whole life. Thomas feels as if he has killed his father.
The Monologue:
TOMMO:
Word has come down from headquarters that we must send out patrols to find out what regiments have come into the line opposite us. Why we have to do this we do not know - there are spotter planes doing it almost every day. MY turn soon comes up. Charlie's too. Captain Wilkie's heading the patrol tells us 'we have to bring back a prisoner for questioning'. He gives us a double rum ration, and I'm instantly warmed to the roots of my hair, to my very toenails.
On the signal, we climb over the top and crawl on our bellies through the wire.
WE snake our way forward. It takes an eternity to cross no-man's-land. I begin to wonder if we'll ever find their tranches at all. We slither into a shell hole and lie doggo there for a while. We can hear Fritz now, talking, and laughing - and playing music.
We're close now, very close. I'm not scared - I'm exited. I'm out poaching with Charlie. I'm tensed for danger.
Then we see the wire up ahead. We wriggle through a gap and drop down into their trench.
It looks deserted, but we can still hear the voices and the music. I notice the trench is much deeper than ours, wider too and more solidly constructed. I grip my rifle tight and follow Charlie along the trench, bent double like everyone else.
We're making too much noise. I can't understand why no one has heard us. where are their sentries, for god sake?
At that moment, a German soldier comes out of a dug-out. For a split-second the Hun does nothing and neither do we. We just stand and look at one another. Then he lets out a shriek, blunders back into the dug-out. I don't know who threw that grenade in after him, but there is a blast that throws me back against the trench wall. There is screaming and firing coming from inside the dug-out. Then silence. The music has stopped.
My view:
I thoroughly enjoy this monologue because it was made to shock the audience for all the right reasons, it has no foul language or sexual references. I can see this monologue being performed in complete silence.
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