Church Towers (Simile)
And instead of church towers they have spires that thrust themselves skywards like a child putting his hand up in class, longing to be noticed. But God, if there is one, notices nothing here. He has long since abandoned this place and all of us who live in it. There are not many steeples left now. I have seen the one in Albert, hanging down like a broken promise (page 88).
As Tommo waits for dawn and his brother's execution, he thinks of the sights of home and compares them to what he is seeing in France. French churches differ from English ones in their use of spires, but Tommo's horrifying experiences in battle have long since removed his ability to believe in God. He compares the spires of French churches to a child putting up his or her hand, indicating that these churches are striving to be noticed. However, after the war, they hang down like "broken promises," a perspective which exemplifies his current lack of belief in God.
Drunken Ghosts (Simile)
Most of us, Charlie and me included, had never seen the sea before, much less the heaving grey waves of the English Channel, and we lurched about the deck like drunken ghosts longing only to be released from our agony (page 114).
During the trip to France, the men become terribly seasick. They wander the decks aimlessly in discomfort. They are compared to ghosts because they have lost their grip on reality, and this simile may also foreshadow the fact that many of them later die in battle.
Charlie as Jesus (Simile)
All day long Charlie was lashed there in the rain, legs apart, arms spread-eagled. As we marched past him, Charlie smiled at me. I tried to smile back, but no smile came, only tears. He seemed to me like Jesus hanging on the cross in the church back home in Iddesleigh (page 120).
The sight of Charlie lashed spread-eagled as punishment for standing up to their corrupt commanding officer reminds Tommo of Jesus. Indeed, Charlie is shown to be a man of great integrity whose sense of morality does not always line up with that of his superiors. This simile turns into a broader symbol throughout the book: Charlie is repeatedly shown to be a righteous man unjustly persecuted for his actions.
Camels at Oasis (Simile)
Captain Wilkes tells us there’s an estaminet there—that’s a sort of pub he says, where you can drink the best beer outside England and eat the best egg and chips in the entire world. He’s right. Pete, and Nipper, Little Les, Charlie and me stuff ourselves on egg and chips and beer. We’re like camels filling up at an oasis that we’ve discovered by accident and may never find again (page 126).
Despite their horrible experiences in training and at war, the men are happy to find a place where they can get delicious food. Like camels that have wandered through the desert and now come upon fresh water, they fill up because they are not sure when they will encounter such bounty again.
The Bee (Simile)
A bee, heavy with pollen and still greedy for more, clover-hopped in front of me as I crawled. I remember I spoke to him. “We’re much alike, bee, you and me,” I said. “You may carry your pack underneath you and your rifle may stick out of your bottom. But you and me, bee, are much alike.” The bee must have taken offense at this, because he took off and flew away (page 112).
Tommo compares himself to a bee, a rather gentle and hardworking insect that has a dangerous weapon to defend itself. In many ways, Tommo is similar to this bee: he, too, grew up in the countryside and learned to work hard, and now he will defend himself with a gun in the same way that the bee defends itself with a stringer.
