Jack Firebrace example essay topic

From Birdsong by Sebastian FaulksJack Firebrace. An honest Tommy. The Novel Birdsong by Sebastian Faults is a story of various parts of one mans life, Stephen Wraysford. The first par of the book is a love story, when Stephen Wraysford is living and working in Northern France.

The main text of the book is when Stephen Wraysford returns to Northern France again, this time as an officer in the British Army, during the First World War. This is the section in which Jack Firebrace features. The final part of the book is a recurring sub plot set in the seventies. We initially meet Jack Firebrace in the most horrific circumstances possible. Jack is a miner, tunnel ling under enemy positions placing mines in the hope of halting enemy advances. Bizarrely Jack's life is threatened by both sides.

He faces either being blown to pieces by enemy mines or being picked off by sniper fire on his all too infrequent breaks on the surface. Should the enemy fail to get him his own side will. Turning on him when he is overcome by exhaustion. On one occasion he is listening for the enemy tunnel ling close to his position, he hears nothing and assures his co-miners that it is safe to continue.

He sees some of his colleagues literally blown to pieces, had he heard better, they may still be alive. With little sleep, Jack is put on to sentry duty, tiredness gives way to exhaustion. Jack briefly falls asleep. Only to be woken by his commanding officer. The officer's arrogance and insensitivity to the horrors that preceded this are graphically portrayed to us when Jack is ordered to appear in front of another commanding officer in the morning. We are told "it's a court martial offence... you know the punishment".

The following day the "seriousness" of the offence is forgotten as Jack turns up potentially to meet his death to find his superiors have turned to alcohol to anaesthetise themselves to their own horrors. Keen to talk about anything except the reason Jack is there, the insensitivity of the first officer is further revealed to us as starts to talk about some sketches that decorate the walls of the trench. He is soon rebuked by the other officer, Stephen Wraysford, who says "for god's sake man... he wants to know if he is here for an art lesson or if he is going to be shot" The charge is dropped, this relieves the atmosphere, already, through Jack's eyes giving us an insight into the how cheap life is in the trenches, and how desensitized Jack has become to it. This is Jack's first encounter with Stephen Wraysford the dreadful significance of which will be shown to us later. Following our initial encounter with Jack, seeing him emotionally tortured by his own side. We see in Jack a good man, an ordinary man in the most extraordinary of circumstances.

We are shown how important his family are to him. His eight year old son John is seriously ill with diphtheria, this prey's on Jack's mind. In the death and killing that surround him Jack comforts himself reading letters from his wife. John Died. In the sea of awfulness that surrounded him Jack sat down and read the words his wife had written.

In very simple language she wrote "I have to tell you that our boy died this morning" The starkness of these words appear to underline the tenuous grasp that Jack also has on life. At any moment Jack could be wiped out too. Consistent to the character we have already seen in Jack he tries to pray, to give thanks, however overcome by emotion he can only sob "my boy, my darling boy". In a premonition to Jack's fate his wife writes "please do take care of yourself, come home to me " In a battle scene near Auchenvilliers the troops gathered waiting for "the big push" Meanwhile Jack was wiring up the mines in tunnels underground, sure in the knowledge that their detonation would strengthen the allied positions. However, quite the contrary when the mines were detonated they left an enormous crater to strengthen the enemy's defences. This allied to the fact that the promised breaches in the enemies barbed wire defences had not been made.

Jack, Arthur Shaw and the priest could do nothing apart from watch the allied troops get slaughtered and ripped apart by machine gun fire. Jack's desire to do the right thing and to carry out orders correctly had received "a terrible blow"he cant let this go on"please God, let it stop Please let them send no more men into this hurricane" suggesting to us the hail of bombs and bullets being rained down on the allied troops. The death and destruction was absolute. It left this decent man with nothing to do but turn away from the killing. As the war dragged on Jack had gone from being shocked by the killing to an acceptance that no matter what he did the carnage and slaughter would persist.

Jack's friend Arthur Shaw is killed in the tunnels. His body is removed from there and they bury him. After darkness falls Jack and a few others decide to go to a local village to drink to the loss of their friend. We see Jack relax and put the war out of his mind, albeit briefly. He does a music hall routine for the other soldiers, it is well received and we see his personal popularity amongst his colleagues.

He can keep this front up only until he steps off the stage. However the death of his friend comes back to haunt him. He can see bodies he doesn't know ripped apart, but when it comes to someone he knows he is unable to retain his indifference to the killing. In spite of the hardships Jack remains strong for others.

In his last letter to his wife we continue to see Jack's spirit and indefatigability Despite his obvious disillusionment, he is keen to let his wife see that his spirits are high "we are all keeping cheerful and bright" and he writes "one more push and it will be over. His compassion and humanity are also evident in his concern for the horses "so badly knocked about and they didn't ask for any part of it" In another premonition of fate he finishes his letter by saying "trusting you are keeping well and I will see you again soon " In Jack's final scene, as he is listening to enemy tunnel ling there is an explosion from an enemy tunnel. Jack is seriously injured; he is trapped by his legs. Though Stephen Wraysford escapes the blast uninjured and immediately sets about to rescue Jack one feels a sense of despair because it is so obvious Jack is not going to make it. In a poignant and moving paragraph, just before Stephen is plucked to safety by German troops, Jack stops trying.

His whole war is encapsulated in the events that have taken place since he was injured in the explosion to his ultimate destruction that we are now witnessing. "What I've seen... I don't want to live any more" he refers back to the battle near Auchenvilliers; he refers to the death of his son. Hope is gone; his only comfort is the certainty of death.

The terrible events that took place during Jack Firebrace's war had finally taken him, more than that; they had taken his spirit, his soul, his very being.