WAR in the Cone Gatherers

 As well as the 2 nd World War that is raging around them, the characters of the Cone Gatherers experience many conflicts between class, nature, and within themselves i.e Duror’s descent into madness

Chapter One  The theme of war is introduced in chapter one, when Neil and Calum are first seen gathering cones in the trees  ‘A destroyer steamed seawards, with a sailor singing cheerfully. More sudden and swifter than hawks, and roaring louder than waterfalls, aeroplanes had shot down from the sky over the wood, whose autumnal colours they seemed to have copied for camouflage. In the silence that had followed gunshots cracked far off in the wood’ page 1, The Cone Gatherers, Robert Jenkins, the canons 15  This quote shows that although the war is being fought far away, it’s still present and affects the characters day to day lives

How war effects Calum  ‘He had been told that all over the world in the war now being fought men, women and children were being slaughtered in thousands; cities were being burnt down. He could not understand it, and so he tried, with success to forget it.’ page 3, The Cone Gatherers, Robert Jenkins, the canons 15  Shows that Calum does in fact understand what is happening in the war, however he doesn’t understand other peoples emotions, and why people would do that to one another.  Calum is oblivious to the fact that the people around him are undergoing their own internal war, mostly because of him

How war effects Neil  ‘Sometimes I think it must be the war. There seems to be death in the air’ page 5 The Cone Gatherers, Robert Jenkins, the canons 15  Neil feels personally affected by the war; he’s confused as to why he feels so resentful towards it  ‘You can make use of a tree, but what use is a dead man?......’Aren’t we ourselves picking up the cones for seed? Can you replace dead men?’ page 5 The Cone Gatherers, Robert Jenkins, the canons 15  Shows Neil’s anger towards the state the war has left him and Calum in

How war effects Duror  As well as experiencing the 2 nd World War, Duror is undergoing his own personal battle ‘He was like a tree, still straight, still showing green leaves; but underground death was creeping along the roots.’ The Cone Gatherers, Robert Jenkins, the canons 15 Duror is being consumed by evil, but is fighting with himself to detain it inside him and not show his deterioration to the world  Duror feels anger as he wanted to go to war, but is too old, and so feels that if he had gone to war, he would not have to deal with Calum and Neil ‘I’m too old, sir’, said Duror. ‘They won’t have me. I’ve treid three times.’ chapter three The Cone Gatherers, Robert Jenkins, the canons 15

Lady Runcie-Campbell  Feels that she has a certain power now her husband has gone to war, although she wishes that he was there to help her make decisions ‘She managed the estate in the absence of Sir Colin, hwo was in the army’ page 10 The Cone Gatherers, Robert Jenkins, the canons 15 Faces a battle with Neil over their opposing classes  Lady RC experiences a conflict within herself as she in unsure of whether to chose her Christian values over her social position

Chapter Six  The theme of war is magnified and reflected in the deer drive that takes place in chapter 6. The drive resembles a battle, and the characters act as if they are troops advancing on the enemy ‘when we get near the guns, drop down on your face…’ page 80 The Cone Gatherers, Robert Jenkins, the canons 15 ‘there are men getting medals for far less that what we’re going to face’ page 81 The Cone Gatherers, Robert Jenkins, the canons 15 The characters are seen through these two quotes, to be taking the drive as seriously as if it were a real battle The drive is very military orientated, and the area where it takes place has been planned and drawn out as a battlefield