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Chapter 8
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
Two nervous German soldiers lead Joey and Topthorn down the green valley to a field hospital. Joey feels hungry, thirsty, and angry, and he flicks his tail impatiently while a knot of wounded soldiers gathers around to admire the horses. Then a tall, commanding man with bandages on his head and leg emerges from the hospital tent. At once the troops snap to attention. The man (soon identified as Herr Hauptmann) looks with admiration on the two horses, then he speaks to the troops. He praises the animals for their bravery, calling them heroes. It’s not their fault they were sent on a fool’s errand. He orders men with less severe injuries to immediately tend to their needs. The men seem inexperienced in caring for horses, but that doesn’t make Joey any less grateful for their attention.
Becoming a prisoner of war wounds Joey’s natural pride; he only calms down when a German cavalry officer—a man who can fully understand Joey’s value as an animal—comes on the scene. The fact that Joey can understand the Germans as well as the British speaks to the fact that all human beings have the same inherent value—it’s not about whether someone is German or British, but about whether they’re a kind and upright person, or a cruel one. Joey, as an animal, feels no sense of national pride, and thus he finds it much easier to recognize the humanity in the German soldiers than, say, a captured British soldier might have done. Language and nationality cannot limit bonds between human and animal that are based on mutual respect and appreciation.
Themes
Herr Hauptmann supervises this work until the field doctor emerges from the tent to tell him that headquarters has ordered him to claim them as stretcher horses. Hauptmann, himself a cavalry officer, vehemently objects to such noble animals being reduced to draft work. The doctor, unintimidated, points out that neither side will likely be using their cavalry against machine guns and barbed wire for much longer. Besides, the lives of medical attention can save the lives of injured German and British soldiers. Hauptmann reluctantly agrees, but he insists that men who understand and can appreciate the horses’ value handle Joey and Topthorn. Because the doctor has no such men, he asks if Hauptmann can hitch the horses to carts and play ambulance driver, at least until the next ambulance convoy arrives to transport him—and the rest of the injured—away from the front lines.
Although modern warfare has quickly rendered the cavalry obsolete, both sides desperately need horses like Joey and Topthorn to haul equipment and men to and from the front lines. The German Army recognizes the value of Topthorn and Joey as beasts of burden, if not their particular qualities as trained cavalry mounts (and finely bred, intelligent horses). Herr Hauptmann grudgingly allows the horses to be used as draft animals for the purpose of saving people’s lives, but he insists that the horses themselves be cared for appropriately; he proves that the way a person values an animal’s life reflects how they value human lives.
Themes
Despite his own injuries, Herr Hauptmann helps two medical orderlies hitch the horses up to carts borrowed from a nearby farmer and begins to lead them through the field of strewn bodies. Joey finally has an opportunity to offer comfort and reassurance to Topthorn, who feels agitated by the novel experience of pulling a cart. Hauptmann takes it as a sign of British insanity that someone would have trained Joey, clearly a riding horse, for draft work. He tells Joey that the war will show whether the British or the Germans are crazier. All afternoon, Joey and Topthorn haul the bodies of injured soldiers to the field hospital as each side “hurl[s] their men at one another across no-man’s-land.”
Herr Hauptmann belongs to the side of the enemy from the perspective of Joey’s previous owners and masters. Yet he proves his own humanity and courage when he risks his life to guide the ambulance wagon—and does so at the cost of personal pain due to his injuries. In contrast, the armies of both sides sacrifice soldiers pointlessly and wastefully, demonstrating disregard for all lives and showing just how horrible war can be. Joey, for his part, doesn’t seem to care which side he’s on as long as he can take pride in doing a job that suits his sense of dignity and self-worth. And this gives him another opportunity to support Topthorn and repay his friend for past kindnesses.
Themes
As night falls, Herr Hauptmann climbs into an ambulance to be taken away from the front lines, and the doctor tells the orderlies to see that Joey and Topthorn get the best care. They put the horses in a nearby barn. It’s the first time Joey and Topthorn have had shelter since going to war. After a meal of refreshing water and delicious hay, Joey drowses in the stall. Suddenly, the door creaks open and a lantern illuminates the barn. Momentarily caught in a memory of the farmer and the danger he represented, Joey scrambles to his feet. But then he hears the gentle voice of a young girl (later identified as Emilie), speaking to her grandfather. She admires the horses and asks if she can keep them as her own.
It’s been a day of losses for Joey (and Topthorn) but they both retain their natural hopefulness despite their fatigue and the foreignness of their surroundings. And although the day began with a parting, it ends with a meeting, reminding Joey (and readers) of how many things make the world hopeful and welcoming, even in the darkest of times. Emilie and her grandfather will brighten the lives of Joey and Topthorn with their love and care.
Themes
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