Plot Summary (AQA A-Level English Literature A): Revision Notes
Plot summary
Willie's early life and background
Willie Dunne is born in Dublin, Ireland, during the winter of 1896. His childhood is largely happy and peaceful, though it is marked by two significant losses. The first occurs in 1908 when his mother dies. The second is the ongoing disappointment from his father, who is the chief superintendent of the Dublin Metropolitan Police. Willie's father hopes his son will follow in his footsteps and join the police force, but Willie fails to meet the minimum height requirement of six feet.
The six-foot height requirement for the Dublin Metropolitan Police was a strict standard in early 20th century Ireland. Willie's failure to meet this requirement not only disappoints his father but sets him on a different path that ultimately leads to his military service.
As a teenager, Willie finds work with a builder named Christy Moran, learning the trade of bricklaying. When Willie is around 17 years old, he meets Mr Lawlor, a man who has recently lost his job as a carter. Through this connection, Willie meets Mr Lawlor's daughter, Gretta, and quickly falls in love with her. Their relationship develops over time, though it faces challenges due to Willie's eventual military service.
Enlistment in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers
The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 transforms Willie's life dramatically. He makes the decision to enlist in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, an Irish regiment serving in the British Army. Willie's motivations for joining are largely personal rather than political. He wants to please his father and believes that military service will prove his worth.
Willie is naive about the political situation in Ireland at the time. He has little understanding of Home Rule, the movement seeking Irish self-governance, or the complex tensions between Irish nationalists and those who support British rule. This political ignorance will later create profound moral conflicts for Willie as the war progresses.
Willie's father firmly believes in loyalty to 'King and Country', and Willie accepts this perspective without questioning it.
Early experiences of war
Willie arrives at the Western Front in early 1915, unprepared for the brutal reality of modern warfare. He initially assumes the war will end quickly and that combat will be heroic and straightforward. However, he quickly encounters the harsh truth of trench warfare. The experience is characterised by constant danger, terrible living conditions, and the deaths of many fellow soldiers. Willie witnesses violence that shakes him deeply, including exposure to poisonous gas attacks.
Trench warfare on the Western Front was one of the defining features of World War I. Soldiers lived in muddy, disease-ridden trenches, facing artillery bombardments, poison gas, and machine-gun fire. The reality was far removed from the romantic notions of warfare that many young recruits like Willie initially held.
During his time at the front, Willie forms important friendships with other soldiers. These include Clancy and Williams, fellow enlisted men who help him navigate military life. He also serves under Christy Moran, his former employer, who is now his sergeant-major, and Captain George Pasley, his commanding officer. Captain Pasley's death has a particularly profound effect on Willie, leaving him grief-stricken and shaken.
In the winter following his arrival, Willie's company is stationed in Amiens for rest. During this period, Willie and a fellow soldier named Pete O'Hara visit a café where they drink beer and dance with other soldiers. It is also during this time that Captain Pasley, mourning the death of his own son, misses Gretta terribly. In January 1916, Willie proposes marriage to Gretta. However, he is troubled by guilt, wondering whether he should tell her that he slept with a sex worker whilst in Amiens. Ultimately, he decides not to confess this infidelity.
Shortly after proposing, Willie returns home on a brief leave. He spends time with his sisters, Maud, Annie, and Dolly, enjoying a temporary respite from the horrors of war. He also spends time with Gretta, who accepts his marriage proposal, unaware of his unfaithfulness.
The Easter Rising and divided loyalties
On the day Willie is scheduled to return to the Western Front, he meets Jesse Kirwan in the soldiers' barracks. Jesse is another member of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers and a supporter of John Redmond, an Irish nationalist leader. Before the soldiers can depart from Dublin, they receive orders to remain in the city. A battle has erupted between Irish rebels and British Army soldiers. Willie follows orders to engage with the insurgents, but he is deeply confused and conflicted. He cannot understand how he has come to fight against his own countrymen.
The Crisis of Divided Loyalties
This event is the Easter Rising of April 1916, a rebellion by Irish republicans seeking independence from British rule. The uprising creates a crisis of conscience for many Irish soldiers serving in the British Army, including Willie. He represents the divided loyalties of many Irishmen at this time, caught between service to the British Empire and sympathy for Irish nationalism.
In late April 1916, Willie rejoins his company in Belgium. The soldiers endure a second gas attack at Hulluch, during which Willie kills a German soldier. News reaches the troops about the recent rebellion in Dublin, which has now been suppressed by British forces. The soldiers are conflicted in their reactions. Some blame the rebels for causing trouble at home, whilst others express regret that the rebel leaders have been executed by the British authorities. Willie writes a letter home to his father describing these events.
Jesse Kirwan's execution
Meanwhile, Father Buckley, the priest attached to Willie's company, reveals troubling news. Jesse Kirwan is awaiting a court-martial for disobedience. Willie visits Jesse in his holding cell and speaks with him about the charges. Jesse explains that he can no longer stand to serve obediently in the British Army, knowing that the army is killing Irish nationalists. Willie tries to persuade Jesse to comply so that he can survive, but Jesse refuses to compromise his principles.
The Tragic Cost of Conscience
In August 1916, Jesse is executed by firing squad for his disobedience. Willie is deeply affected by this loss. He helps to bury Jesse's body and sings the 'Ave Maria' hymn at his grave. This moment represents the tragic consequences of Ireland's divided loyalties during the war, as Irishmen are forced to choose between conflicting identities and allegiances.
Continuing horrors of war
That same night, another soldier named O'Hara tells Willie a story about one of his earlier experiences in the war. During this incident, a soldier assaulted a Belgian woman, but the incident was never properly addressed. Willie reflects on how meaningless everything feels because so many men are dying in the battle.
During a period of respite in 1916, Willie's company is held in reserve. The soldiers are provided with entertainment, including a play and a dance, offering a brief distraction from the war's horrors. However, this relief is short-lived. At the end of this respite, Willie's company returns to the front lines and participates in two major battles. The first is the capture of Wytschaete in June 1917, after a failed uprising by Irish rebels. The second is the battle at Langemark in August 1917, during which Father Buckley is killed.
Second furlough and personal betrayal
In late 1917 or early 1918, Willie returns home on his second furlough. This visit proves disastrous. Willie's father is furious with him, accusing him of sympathising with the Irish rebels. The term 'villany' is used to describe Willie's perceived betrayal. Frightened by his father's anger, Willie leaves his family home and seeks out Gretta.
Willie's alienation from Irish society deepens during this visit. He is rejected not only by his father but also by his community, caught in an impossible position where he is seen as a traitor by both sides—too Irish for the British, too British for the Irish.
However, Willie discovers that Gretta has married someone else during his absence. She learned from newspaper reports that Willie had been unfaithful to her whilst he was away at war. Gretta apologises to Willie and wishes him well, but their relationship is over. Before Willie leaves Dublin, a group of boys taunts him by calling him a 'Tommie', British slang for a soldier, and telling him to go home. This encounter underscores how alienated Willie has become from Irish society, rejected by both his family and his community for his service in the British Army.
Final battles and Willie's death
Back on the Western Front, Willie turns 21 years old in the early spring of 1918. Shortly after this milestone, Willie and his comrades are caught in another bombardment. They retreat from their trenches and fight against German soldiers in the open. During this battle, O'Hara is fatally wounded in the attack. Before he dies, O'Hara admits to Willie that he sent the letter to Gretta revealing Willie's infidelity. This confession explains how Gretta learned about Willie's betrayal.
Shortly afterwards, a bomb explodes in the woods, severely injuring Willie. He awakens in a military hospital in England, his body covered in burns and lacerations. After several months of recovery, Willie regains enough strength to return to the Western Front. However, he feels weary, broken, and increasingly disillusioned with the war.
Willie's Complete Isolation
Willie finds the conflict meaningless and concludes that he is suffering because he is an Irishman serving in the British Army whilst British soldiers distrust him for being Irish. Willie feels he has been abandoned by both his countrymen and the army he serves. This profound sense of alienation and meaninglessness characterises his final days.
In the summer of 1918, Willie rejoins his company. The soldiers prepare for a battle at St Court. During the preparations, Willie hears a German soldier singing 'Silent Night'. The song makes him think about the meaninglessness of war and his own profound loneliness. Suddenly, Willie sings back to the German soldier in response. He is immediately shot and killed. Willie's friends bury him where he died before they must move on to continue fighting.
Willie's death represents the tragic fate of many young men during the First World War, particularly those caught between conflicting national loyalties. His story illustrates the devastating impact of war on individuals, families, and nations.
Key Points to Remember:
- Willie Dunne is a young Irishman from Dublin who enlists in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers in 1914, motivated more by a desire to please his father than by political beliefs.
- The Easter Rising of 1916 forces Willie to confront his divided loyalties when he must fight against Irish rebels whilst serving in the British Army.
- Jesse Kirwan's execution demonstrates the tragic consequences faced by Irish soldiers who could no longer reconcile serving Britain whilst Ireland fought for independence.
- Willie experiences multiple betrayals and losses, including Gretta's marriage to another man, his father's rejection, and the deaths of many comrades including Captain Pasley, Father Buckley, and O'Hara.
- Willie dies in 1918 after singing to a German soldier, symbolising the senselessness and tragedy of the war that claimed so many young lives.