85 pages • 2 hours read
Harold KeithRifles for Watie
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1957A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Identity and Blurred Lines in the Civil War
At the beginning of the novel, Jeff believes that there is only one right side in the narrative of the Civil War. He associates the Union with the protection of everything he knows and loves and the Confederacy with that which threatens his family and way of life. Throughout the war, however, Jeff discovers that the two sides are not so clear and distinct, and neither are their reasons for fighting. He meets kind, caring people on both sides of the war. Gardner shows Jeff that they can associate peacefully with rebel sentries one day and kill them the next. As a traitor, Clardy serves one side while appearing to serve another. When Jeff is undercover in Watie’s outfit, he performs as a Confederate soldier. This means that his actions work toward furthering the Confederate cause in literal, material ways despite his internal loyalty to the Union. The novel draws a distinction between Jeff’s betrayal of the Confederacy and Clardy’s betrayal of the Union, largely due to the nobility of their motives.
Jeff represents a blending of the two sides as two facets of the same country. His name, Jefferson Davis Bussey, is a conflict in and of itself since he is named after the president of the Confederacy. But rather than being ashamed of his name, Jeff defends it as he was named after Jefferson Davis during a time when Davis was serving the United States. When he accidentally gives his real name to the rebels to enlist, the name opens doors, vouching for him as a stranger. Jeff’s pride in his name suggests a faith in reunification that Jeff carries throughout the war. He views Jefferson Davis as a citizen of the United States who has strayed rather than a rebel who has seceded. Thus, when Jeff realizes that the Confederacy has established the hallmarks of an independent country such as a flag, a president, and a congress, Jeff is dismayed.
By the end, Jeff reaffirms the rightness of the Union cause, but also allows for some righteousness on the side of the Confederacy. Ultimately, he believes in the Union’s victory, but hopes to reintegrate the southern people instead of punishing them. Like Sully the bloodhound, members of the Confederacy are expected to assimilate back into loyalty to the United States. The Washbournes, for instance, and Lucy in particular, are staunch Confederates during the war. Afterward, Lucy is approving of her mother’s decision to open a boarding house that supports Union officers, despite the fact that they are still unable to return to their homes. The inevitable marriage between Jeff and Lucy symbolizes a harmonious future that melds the two sides together peacefully. However, it is not a compromise but a submission, since Lucy must learn to accept the Union and give up her Confederate loyalty in order to move forward.
Hunger and the Power of Food
From the beginning of the novel, Jeff is hungry. He can never seem to get enough food, even before enlisting in the army. At home, food is part of how his mother cares for him. She sends him to Fort Leavenworth with food packed which he shares with his travel companions. But the food he brings from home doesn’t last long. The first hardship that Jeff faces in the army is the unsatisfying rations. For Jeff, food and love are intertwined. Mrs. McComas earns his loyalty by feeding him, something she does because, as a mother, she sees him as a hungry child. The first way that the Washbournes show their gratitude is through food. As Jeff grows and matures, his need for food mirrors his hunger for comfort and companionship. As a farm boy, the help that he offers in return to the Washbournes and others who feed him is largely food-related: milking the cow, chopping firewood, and grinding corn.
While undercover with the rebels, Heifer and the Jackmans care for Jeff with food. Heifer is not only an excellent cook, but he nurtures and favors Jeff by offering extra food. Jeff’s returning appetite is a sign that he is getting well, and the Jackmans celebrate when Jeff cleans his plate. Jeff’s reluctance to leave the rebels to go back to the Union links food to the warmth and communality he finds there. On Jeff’s walk back to Fort Gibson, he is alone and truly starving for the first time. This is when he learns to fend for and feed himself. The small handfuls of corn he manages to take hearken back to his family farm, where corn and the production/sale of corn feeds the family. When the corn runs out, Jeff is alone and must either adapt or die. The trip back changes Jeff, rendering him nearly unrecognizable.
Coming of Age in Wartime America
When Jeff leaves for the war, he is too young to enlist without parental permission. By signing the consent forms, his parents offer Jeff agency that he is perhaps not ready to take. This is reinforced constantly, as Jeff is told that he looks too young to be a soldier. With his youth and inexperience comes naivete. Jeff’s enlistment is a contract, signed before he understands what he is doing and enforceable regardless of whether he matures to meet the challenges he faces. This is a common theme among the young volunteers. They join the war with the romantic belief that war will be adventure or a rite of passage. But in reality, many die or become permanently disabled before they can mature. While Jeff manages to grow and become someone who has a major impact in the war, some, such as Zed Tinney, die quick and inconsequential deaths.
Jeff becomes defensive when he is told that he is too young but is able to recognize that Jimmy Lear and Lee Washbourne are too young to die in war. When Sam Fields decides to make Jeff a horse-holder because of his youthfulness, Jeff is offended despite the fact that this spares him the predicament of fighting against his own men. For much of the novel, Jeff is afraid of missing what he views as an essential experience because of his age. He worries that the war will end before he can fight. His aging and maturation occur almost imperceptibly, and it is surprising to discover that he has been gone for four years and is so tall and mature that his mother sees his growth as a loss of the child he was when he left. When he returns, Jeff must reacquaint himself with his family and home, since they have all shifted and changed so much.
The theme of aging in the novel highlights the way that youth is destroyed and wasted in war. Some, such as Jimmy Lear, die before they are old enough to live their lives. Ford Ivey loses his leg in his first battle, shifting the course of his entire live when he is still a child. Jeff survives but returns changed. For instance, he can no longer be comfortable in his own bed. His experiences in the war have shaped him as a person during formative years. Although the idea of trauma is not fully explored, Jeff continues to feel regret for betraying those on the Confederacy who were kind to him. He is struck by the physical trauma suffered by the country as he passes through on his way back to Kansas, horrified at the destruction of homes and lives, and the long road of rebuilding ahead. Jeff feels justified in having fought for the Union, but he has matured to understand and be affected by the human cost taken by the war.
