45 pages • 1 hour read
Throughout the novel, the color red surfaces as an important symbol. British soldiers are called “Lobsterbacks” because their uniforms are red. Likewise, the uniforms worn by the Continental Army are also red. Soldiers on both sides dressed in this color are perpetrators of violence in battle.
The color red symbolizes bloodshed and violence. On the battlefield, the color red stands in stark contrast to white snow and brown mud. At the Meeker home, the cut on Father’s face made by the colonial officer also bleeds and serves as a reminder that the violence of war touches soldiers and citizens alike.
Brown Bess is the musket owned by the Meeker family. For the Meekers, the gun provides protection and a source of food through hunting. Muskets such as Brown Bess are also the most common type of gun carried by the Patriots. The gun symbolizes the family’s fight for survival.
When Sam steals the gun to take with him to the war, he leaves his family unprotected from thieves and marauding soldiers from both sides. Theft of the gun also leaves the Meekers, and especially Father, vulnerable to harassment and threats from Continental officers. Most seriously, Father is unable to protect himself and Tim while on the trip to Verplancks Point to sell the cattle. When the cowboys, or cattle thieves accost them, Father nearly loses his life.
Finally, a musket such as Brown Bess is the weapon used to execute Sam. Rather than protecting him as he thought it would, it is the ironic instrument of his death.
The weather serves as a motif from the very first sentence: “It was April, and outside in the dark the rain whipped against the windows of our tavern, making a sound like muffled drums” (1). The rainstorm opens the novel with a sense of foreboding and sets the scene for a family who will suffer great sorrow and loss due to the coming war. Comparing the sound of the rain to “muffled drums” signifies that while the war is still at a distance, its movement toward Redding is unrelenting and unremitting. Weather represents the harsh and unpredictable realities of war.
Likewise, throughout the novel, the authors use cold weather to convey the hardships faced by families and troops. Winter camps such as Valley Forge are sites of suffering, starvation, and physical challenge. Many men die due to the cold, both British and Patriot. Civilians living through bitter weather also suffer illness, starvation, and death due to the war. The weather is an enemy to all.
Finally, the weather plays a key role in the ruin of the Meeker family. When Father and Tim journey to Verplancks Point to sell cattle, they struggle with snow on the journey. Tim is challenged to manage the oxen and cattle in the mud made from the melting snow. Later, they find themselves in very cold and snowy weather, making the journey not only difficult but dangerous. The snow ends up forcing Father to make a hard decision—he chooses to take a shorter but more dangerous route home because of the difficulties the oxen and wagon have in deep snow. Furthermore, the crystal-clear day ironically also works against them, representing unpredictability. In heavy snow, the cowboys and soldiers might choose not to venture out. Thus, Father and Tim are in the worst of all weather conditions. The snow and mud allows Tim to discover what has happened to Father: “There it was written out for me to see as plain as if I were reading it in a book” (119). The scene is one of violence and turmoil, and it is clear to Tim that Father is gone.
The weather, as a natural occurrence that cannot be fully predicted or controlled, underscore the hardships faced by soldiers and civilians and strips away the pretense of glory.
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