The Orderly-Sergeant Character Analysis

The orderly-sergeant, a timid and fearful subordinate, helps the lieutenant sheathe his sword after he’s shot in the arm. At the story’s opening, the sergeant is one of a large group of men who surrounds the lieutenant as he divides their portions of coffee. When the lieutenant is shot, the surprise is so great that the men—including their injured superior—stand in awestruck silence. Two major themes arise from this behavior. First, the men’s silence and inactivity show how ill-prepared they are for the trials of war. The orderly-sergeant, as an implied part of the wide-eyed and fearful group, certainly contributes to this theme. But his main role in the story occurs when he helps the lieutenant sheathe his sword: he approaches him “tenderly,” “leaning nervously backward” (a phrase Crane repeats), making sure not to let “his finger brush the body” of the wounded man. “A wound,” says Crane in explanation, “gives strange dignity to him who bears it.” The orderly-sergeant’s extremely careful treatment here illustrates the heightened “dignity” with which some people treat the wounded. Until now, the sergeant and his comrades had “thronged” forward to get their coffee, but now, as the sergeant makes clear, his wound commands a certain respect. This is the first clue to Crane’s argument that people ignore rank, instead paying closer attention to health and innate ability, when judging others. Soon, characters like the officer and the surgeon will prove this further, in opposite ways, when they denigrate, rather than revere, the wounded man.