The Fighting Ground by Avi
"The Fighting Ground" by Avi is a historical novel set during the American Revolutionary War, focusing on a thirteen-year-old boy named Jonathan who yearns to become a soldier like his father and brother. The story begins on a New Jersey farm, where Jonathan feels a disconnect with his father as they work side by side, unable to express their true feelings. When he hears the call to arms, Jonathan eagerly joins local Patriots, but his initial excitement quickly turns to fear and confusion as he faces the realities of battle against Hessian mercenaries.
Throughout the day, Jonathan grapples with the chaos and terror of war, ultimately fleeing from combat and becoming a prisoner. His journey takes a poignant turn when he encounters a young boy whose parents have been killed, and Jonathan takes on the responsibility of caring for him. The story culminates in a morally complex finale that forces Jonathan to confront the harsh truths of loyalty, betrayal, and the brutality of conflict.
"The Fighting Ground" is recognized for its literary merit, having received the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and is celebrated for its ability to engage young readers with the ethical dilemmas faced during this tumultuous period in American history. The novel invites readers to empathize with Jonathan, compelling them to reflect on the personal impact of war and the profound connections between individuals amidst societal upheaval.
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Subject Terms
The Fighting Ground by Avi
First published: 1984
Type of work: Historical fiction
Themes: Coming-of-age, death, and war
Time of work: April, 1778
Recommended Ages: 10-13
Locale: near Trenton, New Jersey
Principal Characters:
Jonathan , a thirteen-year-old self-doubting boy who lives on a farm with his parents and younger siblingsCorporal , shabby and disagreeable, with a reputation for being bloodthirsty, sent to organize the rural farmers to drive back the British troops
The Story
At thirteen, Jonathan desperately wants to be a soldier in order to fight the British as his elder brother and father have. He dreams of the cannons, flags, drums, and dress parades. The novel commences as Jonathan and his father are working in the field of their family farm unable to communicate to each other what is in their hearts and thoughts. At the sounding of the tavern bell at 9:58 a.m. on April 3, 1778, Jonathan runs off from his New Jersey farm to join a handful of neighboring Patriots, enlisted by a domineering corporal, in heading off the approaching enemy troops.
By 11:30 a.m. Jonathan is staggering under the weight of a twelve-pound, almost six-foot-long flintlock musket provided by the tavern keeper. He gives his honor as a man to bring the musket back. By 1:00 p.m., Jonathan is marching with his musket across his chest gripped with both hands among the fearful and uneasy men on his way to Rocktown. By 2:30 p.m., the Patriots are embroiled in battle with the approaching Hessian mercenaries. Jonathan is shaken by the hysteria. He is gripped by fear and panic. He doubts the Corporal’s ability to lead his men. He doubts his own ability to hold his ground as a soldier in battle. Confused by the Corporal’s orders and stunned by the blood and death around him, by 3:00 p.m. Jonathan turns and runs. He runs from the extended bayonets of the enemy troops. By 3:40 p.m., he is found in the woods and taken as a prisoner by three Hessian soldiers.
By 6:00 p.m., Jonathan discovers a young boy hiding in a shed on the land of his family home. The boy’s parents have been killed, and Jonathan accepts the responsibility to care for him. Jonathan gives the boy milk and a gentle hand and buries his parents. The boy gives Jonathan the strength to muster the courage to plan their escape from the soldiers. By 9:30 p.m., Jonathan and the boy are making their way through the woods to find their way to Jonathan’s farm.
By 11:50 p.m., Jonathan learns that the Corporal killed the boy’s parents as he has accused them of being Tories and, worse yet, French Papists. By 5:30 a.m., on April 4, 1778, Jonathan is engaged in assisting the Corporal in murdering the three soldiers from whom he and the boy had escaped during the night. By 10:30 a.m., Jonathan has reached his home. The reader is left where he began—in the field of the family farm, with Jonathan and his father being unable to speak to each other. Yet the reader knows that each of them understands what is in the heart and thoughts of the other.
Context
The Fighting Ground is an important work, having won the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books at the University of Chicago’s second Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction in 1985. The award, established in 1981, recognizes unusual literary merit and forthcoming illumination of the development of the New World in contemporary works of historical fiction published for children and young adults. Receiving such an honor places The Fighting Ground in the company of Elizabeth George Speare’s The Sign of the Beaver (1983), Patricia MacLachlan’s Sarah, Plain and Tall (1985), Scott O’Dell’s Streams to the River, River to the Sea: A Novel of Sacagawea (1986), Patricia Beatty’s Charley Skedaddle (1987), and Lyll Becerra de Jenkins’ The Honorable Prison (1988). Linking the work with the late author Scott O’Dell establishes it as a noteworthy piece of writing in this genre and destines it to become a standard work read by children and young adults.
Critics have noted the similarity of The Fighting Ground to James L. and Christopher Collier’s My Brother Sam Is Dead (1974). The two works illuminate the injustices that are always inflicted upon the innocent in time of war. Each author exposes more than factual information about the Revolutionary War era. Each work places strong demands on the youthful reader by expecting him to identify with the character of young Tim in My Brother Sam Is Dead and young Jonathan in The Fighting Ground. The reader is compelled to believe what the characters believe, feel what they feel, and learn what they learn. Both Tim and Jonathan have been penned as characters who act true to the beliefs and values of their historical period and as such invite the reader to join them in weighing their dilemmas.
This is Wortis’ most important piece of history and fiction to date. His previously published works in this genre, Night Journeys (1979) and Encounter at Easton (1980), established him as a writer interested in bringing the moral conflicts of colonial America to life for young readers. With The Fighting Ground, Wortis brings some of the moral conflicts of the Revolutionary War to life as well and continues to write about the part which people from his region of Pennsylvania and New Jersey played in developing the United States. These works ring true, as Wortis writes about what he knows and loves to read.