How Many Miles to Babylon? - Themes - CCEA

Themes are ideas that run all the way through a literary text. By analysing them you can better understand the writer's intentions.

• What choices have they made?
• Why?
• What are they trying to get the reader to think and feel?

Analysing themes allows you to write in detail about a literary text.

The friendship between Alec and Jerry is the central relationship in the novel. The flashback narrative is framed – at the beginning and the end – by the present tense voice of Alec as he awaits execution for the shooting of his friend.

The strength of the men’s bond is shown when Alec puts an end to Jerry's suffering, preventing a brutal and undignified death by firing squad. In doing this he makes the ultimate sacrifice and shows he is willing to die for his friend.

As a result of his family circumstances and the fact that he does not go to school, Alec is a lonely child until he meets Jerry. His friendship with Jerry is therefore all important in his life. They immediately have a lot in common – despite their difference in class – because of their shared passion for horses. The time spent with Jerry swimming in the lake and talking is the happiest we see Alec.

Imagery

The joy in Alec’s narration when he is with Jerry is shown through the imagery used in his poetic descriptions of nature. Having a friend is such a new and exciting experience for him – in his memories “it all seems idyllic".

Johnston’s use of short emphatic sentences – “I had a friend. A private and secret friend” – show Alec’s joyful awe at having a confidant all to himself for the first time in his life.

Alec remains loyal to Jerry despite his mother’s attempts to break their bond. Alec and Jerry’s friendship is an enduring connection

• When Alicia derides Jerry as one of “those sort of people” Alec defends his friend, saying: “Jerry’s not stupid and he’s not a criminal”.
• Their bond also survives the disapproval of Major Glendinning when they sign up to go to war.
• Although Alec becomes an officer, their friendship still continues. Alec invites Jerry horse riding with Bennett as he knows how much Jerry loves horses.
• He saves him rum, a constant source of warmth and comfort for the men in cold trench conditions. He tells him to “Finish it. It’s all for you”.

The climax of the story may come as a shock

• Alec also asks Glendinning if Jerry can have compassionate leave to search for his father. He then keeps quiet when he notices that Jerry has gone absent without leave.
• There are poignant scenes of affection when Jerry comes to Alec’s room on his return, and then an unexpected shock to the reader when Alec shoots his friend.
• These are reminiscent of Of Mice and Men in the portrayal of friendship between two men. Their inevitably unattainable dream of owning a stud farm together is also echoed in the novel.

It is Alec’s father Frederick who first gives an opinion on war when he comments that those who are pro-war are “Damn bloody fools.” He also describes the young men who sign up with the metaphor“Food for cannons”. When he asks in desperation that his son not be sent to war his wife responds with the phrase “Dulce et decorum est …”. This Latin phrase comes from a line written by the Roman poet Horace, “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori”, which means ‘It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country’.

• Intertextuality is significant here because today we know the line from Wilfred Owen’s poem Dulce et Decorum Est. Owen – who fought and died in World War One – became one of the leading poets of that conflict. He was famous for depicting the horrors of the trenches and the futility of war.
• This line from Alicia is used by Johnston as dramatic irony because the modern reader – familiar with Owen’s poem – is reminded of the horrific scenes of despair and devastation that he created in his work. Owen’s poetry exposes the glamour and heroism associated with fighting for one’s country in warpropaganda and in the poetry of writers like Jessie Pope as false and misleading.
• Johnston portrays trench life convincingly in the scenes in Flanders. Days are cold, wet and uncomfortable. Soldiers are surrounded by the sounds of war at all times. References to rats, fleas and dead bodies highlight how difficult life was for men who had been promised heroic status and glory.

Psychological problems

One horrific incident is particularly significant – a soldier is left in no man’s land screaming for days before being stabbed by Major Glendinning. This shows not only the suffering of men who were wounded physically, but also the psychological problems endured from witnessing such horrors. ‘Shell shock’ – now known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – was common as men came back traumatised by their experiences and the sights they saw.

• One main character is dead while the other awaits execution by the end of the novel. The reader is therefore reminded of the great losses in war. Johnston encourages us to question the wisdom of young, able, intelligent men with great potential being wasted in this no man’s land.
• Johnston also uses Major Glendinning to make the reader question the decisions and behaviour of the upper class men in charge of the war. We see those with power dehumanise the men they are in charge of. Glendinning describes his men as “Illiterate peasants, rascals and schoolboys”, showing his feeling that they are inferior to him.
• Major Glendinning also declares that there will be “no flaw in the machinery”, indicating that he has no care for his men as people; to him they are only cogs in a war machine.

Alec’s childhood is presented as unhappy because of the conflict between his parents and his mother’s spiteful, cold nature.

In the opening scene of the novel – as he ponders how his execution will affect his parents – his only comment about his mother is “My heart doesn’t bleed for her.”

Through this surprising indifference to her feelings, Johnston immediately draws our attention to dysfunctional family relationships.

Alec’s parents have a deeply unhappy marriage:

• When the narrative reveals Alec’s childhood in flashback, we see how unhappy his parents’ marriage is. Therefore, it becomes clearer why Alec has pondered that his father “may be better off dead”.
• The marital relationship in the household is shown to be tense and full of conflict. Alec’s parents seem to hate each other. Alicia looks at Frederick “with contempt” and his voice is described as “cold” when he responds to her. Alec imagines they will “grow old immaculately, their implacable hatred of each other hidden from the world”.
• It is hardly surprising that – since this relationship is what Alec has seen of love and marriage – he tells Jerry “I will live alone”.

Relationship with Jerry:

• The parent child relationships in Alec’s family are also strained, especially between mother and son. This is why his friendship with Jerry is so important. He describes his time with Jerry in idealised terms which is in sharp contrast with the terse prose used when depicting his family life.
• Even Alec’s description of the sumptuous surroundings in his house are tinged with coldness as he calls the dining room “unwelcoming”, with light that “lay on the walls and furniture without kindness”. The cold distant nature of all the relationships in the house seems reflected in the furnishings of the house itself.
• Alec’s ability – learned through living with his parents – to “become at will as still and invisible as a chair or a bowl of flowers” conveys poignantly how he has little voice or joy in his household.

Relationship with Alicia:

• Johnston presents Alec’s relationship with his mother as one fraught with tension. He is rarely relaxed in her company. She is shown to be a cold and distant mother who gives little affection.
• The only real fondness she seems to show is for the swans in her garden, who she refers to as “my loves” in “a voice so unlike her own recognisable voice”. Alec is so unused to hearing her express affection that he says, “for a moment I felt a glow of love for her”. It is significant of course that she uses this voice for the swans but not for her son, and this reflects her cold approach to her child.
• Alec – especially as he gets older – has a better relationship with his father than he does with his mother.

Relationship with Frederick:

• Frederick is shown to care about Alec’s welfare when he argues his case for sending him to school and not wanting him to go to war, even though he loses both these arguments.
• As Alec gets older his father suggests “Perhaps the time has come for us to get to know each other a little.” This shows that their relationship has been distant when Alec was a small child. However, such situations were not uncommon – especially among upper class fathers and their children – in the early 20th century.
• Frederick’s desperation when he pleads with Alicia to “Ponder deeply before you take away my son” shows that he cannot bear to lose Alec to war.
• When Alec is finally leaving for the war his father says he cannot express what he calls “sentimentality”. Although his gesture in giving Alec money and a watch shows that he cares for and will miss his son.

“Triumphant blue”:

• Alec’s mother embraces him “with a splendidly theatrical gesture”, which shows that she is performing her farewell and that there is nothing authentic about it.
• Johnston tells us that “Her eyes were the most triumphant blue.” The use of the incongruous word “triumphant” shows that instead of grieving for her son, she feels she has won a battle to get him to go and fight.
• The fact that the most emotional farewell is from the servants – who “gathered round clutching at my hands and touching my coat” – only serves to show just how distant the relationship is between Alec and his parents.
• The only tears at his leaving are from Mrs Williams, the cook.

Right from the opening line of the novel class is an important theme.

• It is clear that Alec is rich and privileged. He immediately refers to himself as “an officer and a gentleman”, and the rest of his narration shows that he is the son of an Anglo-Irish landlord, who grew up on an estate in Ireland.
• This is contrasted with Jerry, who is the child of a poor family and later a labourer for a tenant farmer.

Social status:

Johnston uses their close relationship to show however, that class does not matter to true friends.

• Johnston employs imagery to symbolise the difference in status between the boys. The first thing Alec notices about Jerry is that his feet are “bare, dust-grey, and with soles obviously as hard and impervious to stones, thorns, damp, as were the soles of my expensive black leather shoes”.
• This juxtaposition of Jerry’s bare feet with the expensive shoes Alec wears shows the difference in class between the two characters immediately.
• Johnston also shows class related cultural differences through their dialogue and the colloquialisms used by Jerry.

Different rank:

The novel shows the different life experiences of Alec and Jerry due to their differing classes.

• While Jerry becomes a labourer, Alec travels to Europe, supposedly to further his education. And while Jerry has to make do with a “tinker pony”, Alec receives a “chestnut mare” that the groom comments cost a “queer price”.
• This class distinction continues even when the men join the army. Here Jerry is separated from his friend by rank as well as the class barrier of their childhood.
• Johnston uses the characters of Alicia and Major Glendinning to show class distinctions and the attitudes surrounding them which were common in the early 20th century, especially before World War One. Alec’s mother is furious about his friendship with “that boy” from a lower class and Major Glendinning refers to their relationship as an “unsuitable friendship”.
• Alec’s unfortunate piano teacher is discarded by Alicia because she cannot bear him “dragging his disease and poverty into my drawing room”; Major Glendinning describes his men as “Illiterate peasants, rascals and schoolboys”. Both characters believe themselves to be superior to others.

Unfair treatment:

It is this strong belief in the inherent inferiority of people like Jerry that fuels their snobbery and unfair treatment of people who are less affluent.

• Even Frederick – who does not seem as unpleasantly snobbish as his wife – agrees that class distinctions are “a sad fact, that one has to accept young” and advises Alec to “look at the advantages … Once you accept the advantages then the rest follows.” It is very apparent that these advantages were only available to the upper classes.
• This can be seen when Alec goes to ask Major Glendinning for Jerry’s compassionate leave. Glendinning is playing bridge and drinking whiskey and soda from a “well-polished glass” in front of “a coal fire in the grate”. This contrasts with the cold, damp, uncomfortable living conditions of the poor men who were actually fighting on the front line.