Sacred, Glorious, Sacrifice

“I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice and the expression in vain…There were many words that you could not stand to hear and finally only the names of places had dignity. Certain numbers were the same way and certain dates and these with the names of the places were all you could say and have them mean anything. Abstract words such as glory, honor, courage, or hallow were obscene beside the concrete names of villages, the numbers of roads, the names of rivers, the numbers of regiments and the dates.” Pg 169

Henry does not believe in a world filled with dreams and abstract ideas. He has been exposed to the harshness of war for so long that he only understands what has been real to him. Names, places, dates, and concrete information is all that he knows. In this setting food is scarce, men are dropping, and life is difficult. This quote reveals the internal conflict Henry is faced with. Henry is no longer a dreamer. He lives in the cold, hard present. He has no sense of hope and no aspirations. The way in which Henry describes war is honest: he refrains form using lofty, glorified terms to describe such a terrible thing.