Private Peaceful: Reading Adventure & Quiz

This extract is from Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo. The soldiers are sitting around in the trenches during World War One, bored and relaxed, when suddenly the Germans attack them with deadly poison gas.

I am writing to Mother — I haven't written for a while and am feeling guilty about it. My pencil keeps breaking and I am sharpening it again. Everyone else is lying asleep in the sun or is sitting about smoking and chatting. Nipper Martin is cleaning his rifle again. He's always very particular about that.

"Gas! Gas!"

The cry goes up and is echoed all along the trench. For a moment we are frozen with panic. We have trained for this time and again, but nonetheless we fumble clumsily, feverishly with our gas masks.

The peaceful opening: The writer deliberately starts with a calm, ordinary scene — writing letters, sleeping in the sun, cleaning a rifle. This makes the sudden gas attack feel even more shocking. The contrast between peace and terror is a powerful technique.
"Gas! Gas!": This cry is given its own paragraph — just two words. Like the 'And snored.' technique, isolating it creates maximum shock. The exclamation marks show urgency and terror. This single shout shatters the peaceful world above.
"frozen with panic": This is a paradox — being 'frozen' means unable to move, but 'panic' usually makes you want to run. The soldiers are so shocked that their fear paralyses them for a moment.
"We have trained for this time and again, but nonetheless we fumble clumsily": This is very realistic. Even with training, real fear makes people clumsy. The word 'nonetheless' is key — despite all their practice, their hands won't work properly.
"feverishly": This means in a desperate, agitated way, like someone with a fever. Their hands shake as they try to put on their masks.

Particular: Very careful and exact about how things are done.
Fumble: To handle something clumsily, with difficulty, unable to grip properly.
Clumsily: In an awkward, uncoordinated way; without skill or grace.
Feverishly: In a desperate, agitated way, as if in a fever; frantically.

1. Why does the writer start with a calm, peaceful scene?

2. What does 'frozen with panic' mean?

"Fix bayonets!" Hanley's yelling while we're still trying frantically to pull on our gas masks. We're on the firestep looking out into no-man's-land, and we see it rolling towards us, this dreaded killer cloud we have heard so much about but have never seen it for ourselves until now. Its deadly tendrils are searching ahead, feeling their way forward in long yellow wisps, scenting me, searching for me. Then finding me out, the gas turns and drifts straight for me. I'm shouting inside my gas mask. "Christ! Christ!" Still the gas comes on, wafting over our wire, through our wire, swallowing everything in its path.

I hear again in my head the instructor's voice, see him shouting at me through his mask when we went out on our last exercise. "You're panicking in there, Peaceful. A gas mask is like God, son. It'll work miracles for you, but you've got to believe in it." But I don't believe in it! I don't believe in miracles.

"this dreaded killer cloud": The gas is given a terrifying title, like a villain's name. 'Dreaded' means feared, 'killer' tells us it's lethal. The soldiers have heard about gas attacks but never experienced one — making this moment even more terrifying.
"Its deadly tendrils are searching ahead, feeling their way forward... scenting me, searching for me": This is the most important passage. The gas is personified as a living predator. 'Tendrils' (like the arms of an octopus or roots of a plant) 'search' and 'scent' — it's hunting the narrator like an animal hunting prey. This makes the gas feel intelligent and evil.
"swallowing everything in its path": More personification — the gas has a mouth and swallows things. It's described as an unstoppable, all-consuming force.
"A gas mask is like God, son. It'll work miracles for you, but you've got to believe in it.": This is a powerful simile. The instructor compares the gas mask to God — both require faith. But the narrator says 'I don't believe in it!' — his faith has been destroyed by the reality of war.
"I don't believe in miracles": This short, desperate sentence reveals that war has taken away the narrator's faith and hope. It's one of the saddest lines in the passage.

Dreaded: Greatly feared; causing terror before it even arrives.
Tendrils: Thin, curling extensions, like the arms of an octopus or the creeping roots of a plant.
Wafting: Moving gently through the air, carried by a breeze.
Swallowing: Consuming completely; taking in entirely (personification — the gas 'eats' everything).

3. How is the gas personified as a living predator?

4. What does the simile 'A gas mask is like God' mean?

The gas is only feet away now. In a moment it will be on me, around me, in me. I crouch down hiding my face between my knees, hands over my helmet, praying it will float over my head, over the top of the trench and seek out someone else. But it does not. It's all around me. I tell myself I will not breathe, I must not breathe. Through a yellow mist I see the trench filling up with it. It drifts into the dugouts, snaking into every nook and cranny, looking for me. It wants to seek us all out, to kill us all, every one of us. Still I do not breathe. I see men running, staggering, falling.

I hear Pete shouting out for me. Then he's grabbing me and we run. I have to breathe now. I can't run without breathing. Half blinded by my mask I trip and fall, crashing my head against the trench wall, knocking myself half-senseless. My gas mask has come off. I pull it down, but I have breathed in and know already it's too late. My eyes are stinging. My lungs are burning. I am coughing, retching, choking. I don't care where I'm running so long as it is away from the gas.

At last I'm in the reserve trench and it is clear of gas. I'm out of it. I wrench off my mask, gasping for good air. Then I am on my hands and knees vomiting violently. When at last the worst is over I look up through blurred and weeping eyes. A Hun in a gas mask is standing over me, his rifle aimed at my head. I have no rifle. It is the end. I brace myself, but he does not fire. He lowers his rifle slowly. "Go boy," he says, waving me away with his rifle. "Go. Tommy, go."

"on me, around me, in me": This tricolon (list of three) shows the gas closing in from every direction. Each phrase gets more intimate and invasive: on the surface, surrounding, then INSIDE the body. It's truly terrifying.
"snaking into every nook and cranny": 'Snaking' personifies the gas as a snake — slithering into hiding places. A 'nook and cranny' means every tiny gap and corner. The gas finds everyone, everywhere. There is no escape.
"I will not breathe, I must not breathe": The repetition shows his desperate willpower. He knows if he breathes, the gas will enter his lungs. But eventually: 'I can't run without breathing' — his body betrays him.
"My eyes are stinging. My lungs are burning. I am coughing, retching, choking.": Three short, brutal sentences. Each one adds another symptom. The listing of physical effects makes us feel his suffering in our own bodies. 'Retching' means being violently sick.
The German soldier letting him go: This is the most surprising and moving moment. The enemy soldier sees a helpless, vomiting boy and shows mercy. "Go boy" — he calls him 'boy', seeing past the uniform to the child underneath. He calls him 'Tommy' (the German name for British soldiers), but gently. This shows that even in war, humanity can survive.

Nook and cranny: Every small corner and hiding place; absolutely everywhere.
Staggering: Walking unsteadily, almost falling; lurching from side to side.
Retching: Making the sound and movement of being violently sick.
Wrenched: Pulled or twisted forcefully and suddenly.
Vomiting: Being sick; throwing up.
Blurred: Not clear; unable to see sharply, as if looking through water.
Brace: To prepare yourself for something painful or unpleasant.

5. Why is the short sentence pattern 'My eyes are stinging. My lungs are burning. I am coughing, retching, choking.' so effective?

6. Why does the German soldier let the narrator go?

7. What is the effect of writing the gas attack in first person present tense ('I see', 'I hear', 'I run')?

Reading: Private Peaceful

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