Chapter 21 Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens with MacCorkindale casting a Greek-language performance of the Iliad to facilitate escape plotting. Gaunt reluctantly plays Hector while Nicholson complains. The performances, held in the dining hall, allow prisoners to exchange information, compasses, maps, and supplies. Several escape attempts fail in humiliating ways.

Gaunt’s nightmares continue. When Windeler asks about Ellwood, Gaunt has a severe panic attack. Pritchard comforts him. A Red Cross box arrives with newspapers, and Evans reads the roll of the dead. Pritchard anxiously listens for his brother’s name; Gaunt fears seeing Ellwood’s. Pritchard finds a copy of The New Statesman. Gaunt reads a long poem by Ellwood titled In Memoriam H.W.G. that contains the line “You bleed to death in all my dreams,” convincing Gaunt that Ellwood thinks he is dead.

Determined to escape, Gaunt volunteers to pump bellows for the tunnel. The prisoners dig deeper to avoid flooding from the moat. They assemble materials—compasses, maps, and hidden contraband—using French diversions to cover their activities. The parole system allows walks to scout routes. Devi concocts a plan to recover confiscated escape supplies from the Kommandant’s office, again relying on a French diversion.

Key Events

• MacCorkindale casts the Iliad in Greek; performances mask escape activity.
• Several failed escape attempts: Lovell stuck in a sewer, Campbell’s bridge collapse, Robinson and Harley caught after talking to a baker.
• Windeler’s mention of Ellwood triggers Gaunt’s panic attack.
• Pritchard comforts Gaunt and finds The New Statesman.
• Gaunt reads Ellwood’s poem In Memoriam H.W.G. and realizes Ellwood believes he is dead.
• Gaunt insists on helping with the tunnel by pumping bellows.
• Prisoners deepen the tunnel to avoid moat water.
• French prisoners stage elaborate diversions, including an invented holiday.
• Devi plans to steal confiscated supplies from the Kommandant’s office.

Character Development

Henry Gaunt: His fragile mental state persists—nightmares, panic attacks, and a fear of Ellwood’s death. Reading Ellwood’s poem transforms his despair into desperate determination. He pushes himself physically (pumping bellows despite chest pain) and re-engages with escape planning.

Archie Pritchard: Demonstrates loyalty and empathy, soothing Gaunt during his panic attack and supporting his decision to help with the tunnel. His anxiety about his brother Bertie humanizes him.

Sidney Ellwood (via poem): Although absent, his poem reveals his grief and rage. The shift from his earlier romantic poetry to a raw, colloquial style full of fury and guilt shows how the war has changed him. The poem’s structure echoes Tennyson, but its content is bitterly modern.

MacCorkindale: Pragmatic and somewhat manipulative, he uses the Iliad to serve the prisoners’ escape efforts. His insistence on Greek shows strategic thinking.

Devi: Emerges as a clever planner, orchestrating French diversions and a scheme to reclaim confiscated goods.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Performance as disguise: The Iliad in Greek is a literal performance that conceals the real purpose of the gathering—escape coordination. Art becomes a cover for survival.

Poetry as communication: Ellwood’s poem is the only message Gaunt receives from him. The poem’s rage and the specific stanza about bleeding in dreams convey Ellwood’s belief in Gaunt’s death and his own anguish. Poetry bridges the impossible distance between them.

Honour and parole: The parole system, where officers promise not to escape, is taken seriously. Breaking one’s word would bring disgrace. This contrasts with the multiple lies and deceptions used to fool the Germans.

The tunnel as hope: The tunnel represents the prisoners’ agency and their refusal to passively wait for the war’s end. Gaunt’s physical labor on the bellows is his way of fighting back.

French diversions: The absurd, theatrical diversions (e.g., a fake Catholic holiday) highlight the prisoners’ collective creativity and resilience.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 21 is a turning point for Gaunt: Ellwood’s poem electrifies him out of passive despair and into active participation in escape plans. It also provides the first direct insight into Ellwood’s emotional state since their separation. The chapter deepens the theme of how war transforms relationships and art, showing poetry evolving from Pre-Raphaelite beauty to raw fury. The failed escape attempts and the prisoners’ ingenious teamwork underscore both the absurdity and the seriousness of captivity.

Study Questions

1. Why does Gaunt react so strongly to Windeler’s question, “Who’s Ellwood?”

Windeler’s question catches Gaunt off guard after a night of nightmares about Ellwood. The mention of Ellwood’s name triggers Gaunt’s deep-seated fear for Ellwood’s safety and his own guilt. Gaunt immediately loses his ability to breathe, entering a panic attack. His extreme reaction shows how fragile his mental state is and how central Ellwood is to his emotional turmoil.

2. How does Ellwood’s poem In Memoriam H.W.G. differ from his earlier poetry?

Earlier, Ellwood’s poetry was dreamy, delicate, and “Pre-Raphaelite” in its beauty, later puffing up with heroic sentiments after the war began. In contrast, the poem in The New Statesman is colloquial, filled with “restless, bristling rage.” It describes a colonel scolding the poet, a butchered duke, and a suicide. The only stanza that alludes to Gaunt ends with “You bleed to death in all my dreams.” The poem’s anger matches the fury Ellwood showed when he beat Sandys or hit Gaunt. This evolution reflects war’s corrosive effect on idealism.

3. What motivates Gaunt to join the tunnelling effort after Pritchard has previously advised him against escaping?

Gaunt initially accepts that his neurasthenia makes him a liability. But reading Ellwood’s poem—and realizing Ellwood thinks he is dead—transforms his outlook. He cannot bear to wait out the war while Ellwood believes he has lost him. This personal urgency overrides his caution. Gaunt volunteers for the bellows, enduring physical pain, because he is driven by the need to get back to Ellwood.

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