My Four Weeks in France · Chapter
VIII: Back in Old "O Say"; I Start Answering Questions explained
The narrator recounts the voyage home from France aboard a ship filled with British officials, celebrities, and journalists.
What happens
The narrator recounts the voyage home from France aboard a ship filled with British officials, celebrities, and journalists. He describes the daily routines, the ship's newspaper, and a humorous encounter with a doctor who exaggerates his proximity to the German trenches. After arriving in New York, he faces a barrage of repetitive questions about his war experiences, leading him to consider printing a card with stock answers.
Themes in this chapter
The Absurdity of War
The doctor's exaggerated claim of being twenty yards from German trenches contrasts with the narrator's experience of a two-hundred-yard No Man's Land, highlighting the absurdity and exaggeration surrounding war stories.
Journalism and Observation
The narrator, as a journalist, critiques the ship's newspaper content and the repetitive questions he faces upon returning home, reflecting on the nature of news and public curiosity.
American Identity Abroad
The narrator contrasts American and British habits (bridge playing, meal schedules, driving on the right) and feels the monotony of the voyage differently from the British passengers.
Characters to notice
- Narrator
The narrator describes his voyage home, his interactions on the ship, and his return to the United States.
- Captain Finch
Captain Finch appears at breakfast, indicating the ship is out of the danger zone, and later announces the arrival date in New York.
- Ring Once, Ring
Ring Once is the steward who informs the narrator about lifeboat drill and the ship's departure, and later lends a screwdriver for typewriter repairs.
- M. de M. Hanson
M. de M. Hanson is a fellow passenger at the captain's table, and later jokes about being 'trapped' during customs.
- Mr. Brennan
Mr. Brennan of Yonkers offers the narrator a ride from the dock to his hotel.
- The Doctor
The doctor (Doc Cook) preaches at the ship's service and earlier claimed to have been within twenty yards of the German trenches, which the narrator doubts.
- Doc Cook
Doc Cook is announced to preach at the ship's service; the narrator sarcastically suggests his text will be 'Twenty Yards from the German Trenches.'
Key passages
“one day they were taking me through the front-line trenches and I asked how far we were from the German front line. ‘Hush, Doctor,’ said one of the officers. ‘The Germans can hear you talking now. They’re only twenty yards away.’”
A doctor claims that while touring the front, an officer hushed him because the Germans were only twenty yards away.
The narrator later debunks this story, noting that when he visited the same front, No Man's Land was two hundred yards wide.
“The news is received by wireless from both sides of the ocean. Today’s dispatches from Washington fairly made our hair stand on end. One of them said: “The decision of the milk dealers here that they would not pay more than thirty-two cents per gallon for milk after October one was met by a counterproposal on the part of the Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers’ Association last night with an offer to fix the price at thirty-three and one-half cents per gallon instead of at thirty-five cents as originally planned.””
The ship's newspaper carries mundane news from Washington about milk pricing negotiations, which the narrator finds amusingly trivial.
The narrator contrasts the dullness of home-front news with the excitement of war coverage.
“The first who invites me to dinner is in tough luck.”
The narrator jokes that the first person to invite him to dinner will regret it because he will talk endlessly about his travels.
This reflects his frustration with being asked the same questions repeatedly.
