A Boy in France
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"A Boy in France" is a short story by J. D. Salinger. It is the second part of a trilogy of stories following the character Babe Gladwaller. The first story is Last Day of the Last Furlough and the third is The Stranger. Through the three stories, the character Babe, undergoes a great deal of change due to the war.
"A Boy in France" is one of the few stories in which deals with combat in the war. The setting is at the front, a soldier in his foxhole, trying to maintain his sanity by reading, and rereading a note sent from his sister. Again, Babe is a forunner of Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye. This is a stark and symbolic tale with an inspiring ending. Like a number of Salinger's early stories, stylistically, "A Boy in France" is only a notch away from being pure poetry.
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[edit] Publication
The story was first published in the Saturday Evening Post, March 31, 1945. Since that time, there have been no other major publications of "A Boy in France".
[edit] Plot summary
The story starts with Babe finishing his army rations. He makes small talk with a comrade and looks for a fox hole to rest in. He silently prays that he will not be hit for not digging his own trench, he is in too much pain right now to dig one himself.
He finds a "kraut hole" with a bloody blanket still there. He jumps into it, and tries to set up camp. However, he is soon bitten by a red ant. When he tries to kill it with his hand, he is sharply reminded of his lost finger nail. He imagines pulling his blanket off and emerging clean and healed.
After reading some newspaper clippings in the fading light, Babe re-reads a letter from his sister Matilda for the thirty-oddth time. She tells him how she believes he is in France, but their mom thinks he is in England. She tells him about how his former girlfriend Jackie is over a lot. Matilda also saw his more recent girlfriend Frances, and tried to talk to her, but she did not hear her. Matilda believes that Frances is stuck up (both characters are alluded to in Last Day of the Last Furlough). She keeps him updated on recent happenings at home, and wishes that he will come home soon.
After finishing the letter, he lets his comrade know where he is, and he goes to sleep.
[edit] Characters
- Babe: In each of the three stories is markedly different from who he is in the other two. The confident young man that reader sees in LDotLF is replaced by a weakened and frightened "boy" who fears wildly for his life.
- Matilda: She is the only the character featured in each story of the trilogy. She is Babe's innocent little sister. Her love and innocence allows Babe to hold onto his humanity. This is a popular theme in Salinger stories, seen also in "For Esmé with Love and Squalor" and The Catcher in the Rye.