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Chapter 6
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in War Horse, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Dignity and Humanity
Hope and Loss
Love and Loyalty
The Horrors of War
Summary
Analysis
The next morning, Captain Stewart leads a young, pink-faced, nervous trooper to Joey. Stewart strokes Topthorn as he introduces Joey and Trooper Charlie Warren. Warren can’t ride well, but he proves to be incredibly gentle and conscientious in taking care of Joey. During the rest of the fall and into the winter, spends most of its time marching and very little in battle. More and more, the Army uses the horses for transporting foot soldiers, meaning the horses rarely must charge onto battlefields.
Joey overlooks Warren’s poor riding skills because he values a kind and caring soul more than proficiency—in this way Warren provides another contrast to Corporal Perkins, who knew how to ride but not to value Joey’s individuality. Pulling the cavalry back and reassigning them from front-line troops to transport and support roles shows the British Army trying to catch up to the new—extremely deadly—style of war as quickly as possible.
Themes
During the long days of marching, Trooper Warren begins to talk to Joey. Warren was learning the blacksmith’s trade from his father when the war broke out. The local landowner from whom Warren’s father rented his shop and his home pressed the family until they felt they had no option but to contribute to the war effort by forcing Warren to enlist. Because of his familiarity with horses, he joined the cavalry. After the Germans shot his horse under him on that first charge, he didn’t think he’d ever have the courage to ride again, but Joey fills him with confidence.
Like Albert and Nicholls, Warren shows how deeply he loves and values Joey by talking to him as he would talk to another person. His story showcases another of modern war’s horrors: even peaceful men like Warren who would rather stay home end up being forced to fight by government draft or by social pressure. And his relationship with Joey helps him to find hope and courage to go on even in the face of brutality and terror.
Themes
Eventually, Joey learns from Warren that cavalry will be withdrawn to winter camps behind their own line until the spring, when everyone anticipates they will be used to break the front line, where the opposing armies have come to a deadlock of trench warfare. There they wait, the monotony broken occasionally for Warren by letters from home. Winter, with its continual rain and muddy conditions, takes a toll on the men and horses. Many horses go off to the vet and never return. Warren’s careful attentions see Joey through the worst of it; Topthorn comes close to dying of a respiratory infection, but Captain Stewart nurses him through it.
Just because the cavalrymen and horses fall behind their own line into relative safety doesn’t mean that their wartime experience gets any better. Indeed, the war takes a devastating toll on all its participants regardless of whether they’re facing machinegun fire or just the grueling, continual exposure to the elements. The winter, and Topthorn’s illness, however, give Joey a chance to repay his friend’s loyalty by demonstrating his own and proving himself a worthy friend.
Themes
Finally, one icy-cold spring night, the troopers come to the horses in full battle gear. As they saddle up and ride out of camp, the troopers sing and regain their spirits after weeks of enforced idleness. But the mood shifts when they reach the battlefield. Previous battles have utterly destroyed the countryside; not a building or even a single blade of grass remains intact. Men huddle in the trenches, cheering as the horses cross over into the wilderness of no-man’s-land and line up for their charge. Trooper Warren draws his sword and asks Joey to make him proud.
The troops continue to find themselves chastened when their expectations of war’s glory and adventure meet its grim reality: pain and suffering, especially along the front lines. The armies of both sides dug into trenches from which they shot guns and artillery at each other across no-man’s-land. Trench warfare left soldiers partially exposed (to each other, to the elements) in miserable, muddy, and disease-laden conditions for months on end; it was, in many ways, pointless, as the mere establishment of the trenches meant that neither side could make much progress on moving their own front line.
Themes
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