Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Medicine Walk, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Fathers and Sons
Nature and the Land
Identity and Heritage
Memory and Story
Love, Loss, and Grief
Summary
Analysis
Jumping back to the years after he abandoned his mother, Eldon says that he and Jimmy had never heard of Korea, but in the bunkhouses in 1951, it’s all anyone could talk about. Some of the men missed World War II and were eager to prove themselves in combat. After reading in the newspapers about the campaign of Hill 677, soon Eldon and Jimmy could talk of nothing else, either. Jimmy suggested that they enlist. They could get training, then come back and earn better money. Eldon agreed. At 18, they were assigned to the Royal Canadian Regiment.
Hill 677 refers to the Battle of Kapyong in April 1951, which was fought between Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand forces and the Chinese army. Canadian resistance to a Chinese assault famously prevented the Chinese from breaking through the United Nations defenses. Stories like these encouraged men like Jimmy and Eldon to seek a sense of purpose through fighting and to set themselves up for a better life.
Themes
They traveled across Canada with a raucous group of mostly dropouts and fellow itinerant workers. War didn’t really mean much to them—it was more about bravado, something they associate with the open lands rushing past their train. At night, he thought about his father and his mother, whom he hadn’t seen in four years. He was afraid of dying.
War isn’t very real to Eldon at this point. Like logrolling and other jobs he and Jimmy have enjoyed over the years, it’s just another exhilarating adventure. However, Eldon can’t forget memories of his father’s death and how his loss affected him and his mother.
Themes
When they reached Camp Petawawa, they were swept into basic training. It was the hardest work Eldon has ever done, but he loved the exertion, and he and Jimmy pushed one another as they’d always done before. The two of them could disappear into the woods, untraceable. At the end of training, they were assigned together to the 3rd battalion and sent for advanced weapons training. Unlike Jimmy, Eldon struggled to commit himself to war. He had questions about it. But he was loyal to Jimmy, and he became a dependable fighter. At Nippon Bara, the two of them got sent out on reconnaissance patrols. Jimmy is sure that it’s because they’re the best soldiers—it’s who they are now.
Camp Petawawa was a major military training camp in Eastern Ontario, and Nippon Bara was a weapons training camp in Japan, both places which featured in the Canadian experience of World War II. Well accustomed to hard work, Eldon and Jimmy thrive in training and distinguish themselves as valuable workers. For Eldon, the war has more to do with friendship than ideals, which will shape his whole experience of the war—tragically, it turns out.
Themes
They were set up on a hill outside Pusan, a short distance from the Chinese troops. They spent their days in trenches and their nights making patrols into no-man’s-land. As the sun dipped toward twilight, the fighting would begin. They would crawl out of their trenches and into a nightmarish barrage, bodies collapsing around them. When the barrage stopped, they would inch forward in the darkness until they encountered the enemy and were plunged instantly into wrestling knife-fights. Then, when ordered to disengage, they would crawl backwards to the safety of the trenches. This went on for months.
In Korea, the war quickly goes from exhilarating adventure to terrifying ordeal. They face fear, carnage, and death on a daily basis. Noticeably absent is any real sense of the purposes for which they’re fighting. They just face brutal hand-to-hand fighting day in and day out with little respite.
Themes
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