A Boy at War

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2001

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-6

Chapters 7-12

Chapters 13-18

Chapters 19-24

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Symbols & Motifs

The USS Arizona and the Fleet of American Ships in Pearl Harbor

The collection of more than 20 American warships docked around the perimeter of Ford Island create an impression of prowess and indestructibility, and each time he sees them, Adam is struck by a sense of pride and patriotism. To Adam, they symbolize what the United States Navy can achieve, a show of force prepared to mount a defense or stage an attack. Adam is well informed on all the technical specifications and defensive capabilities of his father’s ship, and he recalls with pride the occasion when he, his mother, and his sister were brought aboard for family day and given a tour, his father proudly introducing Adam as a future sailor. In a sense, his familiarity with the ship is a medium through which Adam connects with his father, who spends so much time aboard, and who is emotionally reserved when he is home with his children. Adam’s father constantly reminds Adam of how much their entire family owes to the navy, and when Adam is in the presence of the fleet, he feels his connection to the greater cause, which mitigates some of the sacrifices he is forced to make.

When the Arizona and the rest of the fleet are decimated before his eyes, Adam enters a state of shock not only because the attack itself is unexpected, but because until the moment he sees the ships between to catch fire, split apart, and sink, Adam had genuine faith that the ships were indestructible. Further, he believed that they could withstand and defend against any enemy. Adam’s father occupied a similar status in his son’s eyes. Adam wonders earlier in the novel how he will ever manage to live up to the standard his father has set because he sees his father as casting an unattainable mold. The possibility that his father could encounter life-threatening danger over the course of his missions has always been a reality for Adam, but he has never truly been forced to confront his father’s vulnerability and mortality.

Adam’s Rifle

The Springfield rifle symbolizes the adult role into which Adam is thrust during the attack on Pearl Harbor. When he is mistaken for a sailor while sitting in the rowboat by the pier, he can’t find the words to explain that he is a civilian and should be allowed to go home instead of following the order to row toward Ford Island. He has neither the experience nor the training to participate in a military capacity like an enlisted sailor, even in these unprecedented circumstances. He uses this opportunity to try to search for his father, but in so doing he encounters scenes of violence and wreckage that leave him even more vulnerable than he was in the rowboat when the attack began.

When he has a weapon in his hands that he is competent to use, Adam can defend himself for the first time. Before he was issued the rifle, he was forced to watch helplessly while the attack unfolded around him. When he starts firing the rifle at the Japanese plane flying overhead, he does so in defense of himself and the civilians around him, but when he continues firing until someone shouts at him to stop, it is because he is experiencing a cathartic release.

At home, Adam is propelled into a protective role in his father’s absence, compelled to protect his sister and mother from the uncertainty around them. When they are alone in the house, their neighbors having departed, and Adam retrieves the rifle from the bushes, he decides to accept a role that is beyond the normal expectations of a 14-year-old. That his mother trusts him to use it if necessary, knowing that he has the training to handle it, affirms her understanding that her son’s role has changed with the events of the day.

The Rowboat

The rowboat that Adam, Davi, and Martin find in the brush and row out into the harbor symbolizes Adam’s first foray into making decisions of his own, against his father’s instructions. The night before they go on the fishing trip, Adam’s father tells him that he should not be friends with Davi any longer, but Adam decides to ride his bike to their predetermined meeting spot anyway. Adam breaks another rule of his father’s when he follows Martin and Davi under the fence to trespass in an area marked as military territory. Only the night before, Adam’s father reminded Adam that his actions reflect on his father and on the entire navy, and being caught sneaking onto post would not reflect well.

In taking the boat out, Adam risks being seen on the water with his friends, but just as he is about to recommend that they row farther from the fleet, the attack begins. In the confusion of the attack, Adam is still in the rowboat when he is ordered to row toward the West Virginia. Adam’s father would likely have been furious with him for not disclosing that he was a civilian, and Adam goes even further when he impersonates a marine, willingly donning the work clothing he is ordered to find in the barracks. The rowboat is the vehicle through which Adam finds himself embroiled in the attack at Pearl Harbor; if he had not defied his father’s orders, he likely would not have been caught in the fray.