Shades of Gray

The experiences and conversations Will has in this section force him to consider the war and people’s involvement in it in different ways, highlighting the themes of The Importance of Other People’s Perspectives and Different Definitions of Courage. Will’s views are challenged in several ways through his conversations with Hank, the experiences he hears about at the mill, and his discussions at home. Rather than having Will change his thinking instantly, Reeder shows him progress then return to rigid thinking and then progress again toward open-mindedness.

Will’s battlefield buttons represent his knowledge of the war. Because his hometown was near battles, he has more firsthand knowledge of the war than the people in his aunt’s town do. He impresses some of the boys with his knowledge of the war and with how close his father got to the men he killed. While Will has a clear belief that the Confederates are good and the Yankee soldiers are bad, he shows some ability to see a shade of gray when he experiences discomfort over Hank’s glee at the thought of Will’s father killing someone in close combat. Will largely dehumanizes Yankee soldiers and their supporters, but here, he shows the slightest acknowledgment that these soldiers were people, too. He is able to see this because of Hank’s reaction to the buttons and saber and because of the more intimate knowledge he has of war than Hank does due to the actual battlefields he saw.

However, Will quickly returns to his black-and-white thinking in his conversation with Hank. He is shocked to hear that Hank’s brother traded with a Yankee. This surprise comes because, despite his prior discomfort with the idea of joy at killing people, he still sees the Yankees as bad. He also still believes that his pride is more important even than life-sustaining food when he says he would never take a Yankee’s food. Will’s pride is self-defeating, causing immediate negative repercussions when his judgments turn Hank against him and make the boy his enemy again.

Will begins to question what he knows about people in his discussion with Uncle Jed and Aunt Ella, and for the first time, he really considers what Uncle Jed’s view of his decision regarding the war might be. His surprise that Uncle Jed thinks he did the right thing by not fighting reveals that Will had believed his uncle must have known he was wrong to avoid war. This is not the case, however, and when Will realizes this, it causes him to reconsider his uncle’s opinions. He does not consider them deeply, nor does this thinking cause him to change his mind. Rather, it begins to plant the seed that his uncle does not see himself as a coward, nor does he believe he made the morally wrong decision to avoid fighting, opening Will to Different Definitions of Courage. In short, Will has finally heard another opinion, but he has not thoroughly considered it yet.

Will’s inclination to get rid of the buttons shows he is starting to question all he thought of the war. For him, the buttons are souvenirs from a valiant battle, and he takes pride in them. However, his conversation with his aunt’s family makes him wonder if other boys picked the buttons off the ground near where his loved ones died, treating that land more as a souvenir shop than a deathbed. This realization further humanizes the enemy, and Will no longer finds joy in the remnants anymore. Still, his aunt maintains that these buttons and his experiences are real, and because of that, he should keep them and treasure them as the little he has left.

Will’s loyalties are shown to be changing through the situation at the mill. When Will came to his uncle’s home, he had no respect for the man. However, he finds himself upset when other people disrespect his uncle, which is due to several factors. First, he learns that some men did not volunteer to fight but only fought because they were conscripted. The only difference between these men and his uncle was that they were found by the Confederates, whereas Uncle Jed was not. Second, working closely with Uncle Jed means he has gotten to know him better. This proximity has allowed him to see the good parts about his uncle, and he can no longer label him as either all good or all bad.

Will’s surprise over the damage the “perfectly ordinary” Confederate soldier did to Pennsylvania during the war shows the extent to which Will dehumanizes Yankee soldiers. Will expected destruction by Union soldiers because he sees them as being evil and all bad. He is shocked by the ex-Confederate soldier’s story because he believes only an evil person could commit such acts. Before speaking with this man, he had no real understanding of the atrocities some Confederate soldiers performed. Will begins to understand that destruction is a part of war. That does not make it right, but it is common, and even good people participate in despicable acts during war. This lesson is important for Will to learn if he is to continue on his journey to seeing shades of gray where he previously saw black and white.