Soldier's Heart by Gary Paulsen
"Soldier's Heart" by Gary Paulsen is a historical novel that explores the experiences of Charley Goddard, a young Minnesota farm boy who enlists in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The narrative focuses on Charley's initial romanticized perception of war, which he believes will be thrilling and adventurous. However, as he faces the brutal realities of battle and the loss of life, his understanding of maturity and survival transforms dramatically. Charley's journey highlights the stark contrast between his youthful innocence and the harsh truths of warfare, leading to a profound internal struggle with death and humanity.
Throughout the story, Charley grapples with the moral complexities of combat, including an eye-opening encounter with a Confederate soldier that reveals their shared humanity. Upon his return home, Charley faces the challenge of reintegrating into civilian life, forever altered by the trauma he has endured. This novel not only serves as a historical account of the Civil War but also delves into themes of loss, the nature of bravery, and the scars left by conflict. "Soldier's Heart" ultimately invites readers to reflect on the psychological impact of war on individuals, particularly the young soldiers who fight it.
Soldier's Heart by Gary Paulsen
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1998
Type of work: Novella
The Work
Soldier’s Heart deviates from Paulsen’s other work as it does not directly have autobiographical analogues to his own life. However, it is partially modeled on the real-life exploits of Charley Goddard, a Minnesota farm boy who decides to enlist in the Union Army during an earlier point in the Civil War.
Therein, the story itself does have biographical tenets, but the narrative distances itself from Charley (as Charley does from others during the war) by unabashedly looking at his naïveté and romanticism surrounding the conflict. He enlists thinking that this shooting war, as he calls it, will be more exciting than a circus, even though he has never been to a circus either. Paulsen continues with his trend toward family dissolution by having Charley leave his mother behind in Minnesota for the war under the auspices that he can occupy his dead father’s position as a provider for the family. Knowing that he is driven to the war, Charley’s mother relents.
His romantic delusions, though, are quickly shattered. Couched within Paulsen’s laconic narrative is an exhaustive history lesson of the Civil War from Charley’s perspective. The longer he remains within the conflict, the more the battles, deaths, and disturbing sensory impressions he receives change his perspective from boy to man in a matter of months. Age no longer becomes a determinate factor of maturity for Charley; though possibly younger than Nelson, a new recruit to his unit, he is not nearly as green as Nelson, and that becomes a determining factor of life and death.
Death itself surrounds Charley. He quickly determines that his own is imminent and that there is nothing that can stop it. Just as quickly, Charley begins to covet death, not for himself necessarily but for that of his enemy, the rebel Confederate army. This does not come without complexity either. In one of the more complex exchanges of the entire work, Charley and an unnamed rebel discuss trading supplies while both are stationed in a hot zone. Charley comes to discover that these people he is fighting and killing are people very similar to himself: young farmers with families back at home. When the war ends and he finally returns home, it becomes difficult for Charley to separate himself from the atrocities that he has seen and has committed from the civility that now surrounds him. Survival, at this point, becomes one of reintegration into a world he tried to protect but does not understand anymore.
Bibliography
Jones, J. Sydney. “Paulsen, Gary.” In Something About the Author, edited by Alan Hedblad. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2000.
Moore, John Noell. “Archetypes: The Monomyth in Dogsong.” In Interpreting Young Adult Literature. Portsmouth, N.H.: Boynton/Cook, 1997.
Paulsen, Gary. Father Water, Mother Woods: Essays on Fishing and Hunting in the North Woods. New York: Delacorte Press, 1994.
Paulsen, Gary. Guts: The True Stories Behind “Hatchet” and the Brian Books. New York: Delacorte Press, 2001.
Salvner, Gary. Presenting Gary Paulsen. Boston: Twayne, 1996.
Wood, Susan. “Bringing Us the Way to Know: The Novels of Gary Paulsen.” English Journal 90, no. 3 (January, 2001): 67-72.