The Fighting Ground

A musket is a long gun fired by lighting an explosive powder, which sets off the powder inside the gun barrel and propels the ball or bullet out of the barrel and toward a target. When a musket’s trigger is pulled, a metal device called a gunlock snaps down and makes a spark that ignites the powder. During the American Revolution, the gunlocks used flint for the spark; thus, these muskets were called “flintlocks.” Tricky to load and aim, flintlocks symbolize the intimidating demands of battle that Jonathan must meet.

A musket must be loaded from the front end, or muzzle, of the gun’s barrel. The user pours in some gunpowder, then drops in a metal ball, followed by a wad of paper to hold everything in place. The user then shoves a ramrod down the barrel to press the items together at the barrel’s bottom. The user adds additional powder to a small priming pan next to the barrel’s bottom. When fired, the flintlock’s spark ignites this powder, which, in turn, sets off the powder inside the barrel, and the explosion pushes the ball out of the barrel at high speed. Gun loading is complicated and takes about 30 seconds per shot; this is why, at the battle with the Hessians, Jonathan and the others in the first row fire their muskets and quickly drop back to reload. Jonathan is terrified he’ll muff the task, and with good reason.

Muskets were replaced in the early 1800s by rifles, which greatly simplified the loading of ammunition. Rifles were much more accurate as well: Musket balls tended to miss their mark, which is why the Corporal orders his volunteers to wait until the Hessians are very close: “Wait till we’ve got fifty yards between us, boys, fifty yards or less, fifty yards or less!” (46). The famous American Revolutionary War expression “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes” wasn’t so much a command to be brave but a directive to wait until the enemy was close enough for wayward musket balls to hit their targets.

As the primary weapons of war for centuries, guns like Jonathan’s musket are frequent symbols of war and violence. When Jonathan destroys the gun at the end of the novel, he destroys the last vestige of his belief in the glory of war. He was once proud to carry the musket into battle, despite its awkward weight and heft. But after 24 hours in battle, he has learned that the violence the gun—and war—produce is anything but glorious. His naïve presumptions about war have been destroyed, and so he destroys this physical vessel of war too.

American colonists built their towns within the vast, deep forests of eastern North America. Roads snaked through miles of tall trees; the battle with the Hessians takes place on a road deep within one such wood. For hostage Jonathan, the trees become “vaulting shadows” that represent his fear and sense of being lost. That he later braves the dark forest at night testifies to his courage and determination.

During such unknown circumstances, the forest provides a symbolically appropriate setting for Jonathan’s experiences. Deep woods are unknowable and frightening because of that fact, just as Jonathan’s experience with war proves increasingly unpredictable and, thus, terrifying.

The eldest Hessian captor finds a quiet moment to smoke a tobacco pipe. Jonathan senses in the old soldier’s grizzled face a tough wisdom hard-won from long years of battle. The pipe is the man’s way of relaxing, but it also suggests he is someone who reflects on life and its difficulties. The pipe becomes the man’s way, for a few moments at least, of turning a blind eye to the hard realities of war.

It’s also a symbol of peace. Some Native American cultures would share long tobacco “peace pipes” during negotiations. So while the man smokes for his enjoyment, that it is during an interaction with Jonathan further underscores the sense of peace that rests between them. Although they never shake hands or even put aside their weapons, there is a sense that Jonathan and the Hessians are not truly enemies, and the pipe symbolizes this connection.