William—An Englishman · Chapter
VI explained
William and Griselda, eager to escape the now-threatening solitude of the farm, pack hastily and set out for the station.
What happens
William and Griselda, eager to escape the now-threatening solitude of the farm, pack hastily and set out for the station. Their relief is shattered when they encounter German soldiers at the farm. A soldier strikes William to the ground, and Griselda is seized when she tries to intervene.
Themes in this chapter
War and Illusion
The idyllic countryside transforms into a place of menace; the couple's disbelief at the soldiers' brutality underscores the shattering of pre-war innocence.
Class and Conformity
William's contempt for the soldier is rooted in his class identity as a clerk, debarred from bearing arms and accustomed to seeing the military as a target of Labour protest.
Characters to notice
- William Tully
Struck down by a German soldier after attempting to ignore him and continue to the station.
- Griselda Tully
Seized by a second soldier after trying to defend William; her suffragette instincts flare.
- Heinz
Leads the group of soldiers who jeer at the captives and force them to run.
Key passages
“They jeered at the captives' clumsy running and urged them to gallop faster. When Griselda tripped over a tussock and sprawled her length on the grass, they applauded her downfall long and joyously and begged her to repeat the performance.”
The soldiers mocked the couple's desperate running, and when Griselda fell, they cheered and taunted her to do it again.
Highlights the dehumanizing cruelty of the captors and the humiliation inflicted on the couple.
“He came of a class—the English lower middle—which the rules of caste and tradition of centuries debarred from the bearing of arms; a class which might, in this connection, have adapted to its own needs the motto of the House of Rohan.”
William belonged to the English lower middle class, historically excluded from military service, a group that might have taken as its motto: 'I cannot be a king; I deign not to be a prince; I am a Rohan.'
Explains William's ingrained anti-militarism and class-based disdain for soldiers.