| Plot summary | Genre | Cultural Context |General vision or viewpoint | Theme or Issue | Aspects of story | Hero/Heroine /Villain |

A Moment of War by Laurie Lee

Plot Summary

This novel is part of an autobiographical trilogy in which the writer Laurie Lee records different experiences from his own life. In this story Lee traces certain experiences during the Spanish Civil War.
The story opens with the narrator describing how he arrived in Spain having crossed the Pyrenees from France in the year 1937 during the period of the Spanish Civil War. He arrives at a local house filled with a Spanish family and is relieved at the fact that they seem to be a friendly lot. He is brought by two brothers to the local square where he sees the Republican flag hanging from the dilapidated Town Hall. He is then handed over to some sentries by the two brothers who announce that he is a spy. He is held in a cellar for three days and then interrogated. The guards believe he is German who has come to spy on them. He is held in a dark cellar and begins to wonder whether all volunteers on offer for the Republican front are treated in this manner as a kind of test. Another man is thrown in beside him and later on this man is brought out and shot. After two weeks in solitary detention the narrator who presumably is Lee is taken to Brigade Headquarters, which is situated in Figueras Castle. Here he is left with a mixture of people from different nationalities among them Dutch, Germans and Poles. None of the men actually mix but stay in their own group.
He meets some fellows who are called Doug and Danny. He finds the atmosphere strange. There is no attempt at discipline and Doug tells him how he has not handled a gun yet even though he has been there for over ten days. He meets a Spanish girl who is struggling to break free from her past history of abuse and slavery to men. He speaks about the continuous arrival of volunteers and their particular state how they are ill clad, crop-haired and sunken-cheeked. He begins to analyze why these people had joined up and comes to the conclusion that the reasons were various from failure to poverty to betrayal by wives to fleeing the law. He realizes that in spite of the various motivations governing their behavior he maintains that they all share something that is unique to them all ‘the chance to make one grand uncomplicated gesture of personal sacrifice and faith.’ He describes how they had discovered a ‘ new Satan Fascism.’
He speaks about Franco’s bombing planes, which are situated in Majorca and about his first air raid. He watches an air raid on Valencia and speaks about the brutality and violence of war, and how few acknowledged at the time how General Franco the Supreme Patriot and Defender of the Christian Faith would allow these trial runs to be inflicted on his fellow countrymen. Lee describes how vast areas of his own country were delivered up as testing grounds for Hitler’s bomber squadrons, which would eventually culminate in the annihilation of the ancient city of Guernica.
He also describes their arrival in Albacete, how they are an anonymous and unacknowledged group of people. Here he is subjected to more interrogation on account of the fact that he had spent some days in the spring of 1936 in Spanish Morocco which had been used by Franco as a base for his rebellion at that time and from where in July he started the Civil War. Lee the narrator is an innocent who was unaware of the implications of all this and who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now he is suspected as a Fascist agent. The interrogators find his love letters and he is faced with the fact that he will be shot for being a traitor. Someone recognizes him and he is freed again.
They move into a church but the local people are shocked by the way they behave. They use the altar as a bar and practice using the machine gun in the church they have occupied.
He meets Harry Pollitt who is leader of the British Communist Pary and who takes on the role of being a political leader of the men.
They spend a good deal of time in Tarazona watching and waiting for the war to move. It is a festering time drenched in doubt and suspicion. They go to search for dynamite in an old lady’s house and instead find altar candles, which are being kept, by the old woman and her husband. He describes a man from Bilbao called Arturo who is a machine –gunner. News begins to filter in that victory has ceased. He wakes one morning to find all his friends gone and mentions how he never saw them again.
He is ordered to go to Madrid. They want him to go and make a few broadcasts from Madrid Radio to America. This is the second year of the war. The radio broadcast turns out to be a bit of a farce and he mentions how it is like a ‘pantomime to placate the gods.’
The radio broadcast is interrupted by shelling, there is total devastation and he finds emptiness and silence in Madrid. Everybody is afraid of each other and afraid people are acting as spies, so they treat people with suspicion.
Franco was willing to sacrifice Madrid rather than let it remain in the ‘hands of the Marxists.’ Lee speaks about the slow victory of Franco and the defeat of the Republican army and how they were forced to retreat because of blizzards and how some of the churches are turned into hospitals.
Teruel fell at Christmas and this was the seal of defeat.
The fate of New Spain was decided among the frozen terraces of Teruel.
He is sent back to London. There is no one to say good-bye they are all dead, deserted or swept away in the snows. He mentions the journey back to England. He has to present himself to the Secretariat and he will be issued with an exit visa. He does this and immediately he is arrested as deserter and spy. He is put in prison again. He destroys all documentation he has on him and all letters. He is saved by the editor of the Daily Worker a man called Bill Rust who identifies him. Rust got him his exit visa. He takes a train to the frontier. He is reunited with his girl and he remembers love without honor.

Genre

This story is told in the first person narrative voice by the author Laurie Lee himself. It has autobiographical elements and deals with his own involvement in the Spanish Civil

Cultural Context/Social Setting

This novel is told against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939.We learn about Franco’s invasions of Spain and the devastation which is carried out there. In addition we witness the devastation of Catholic Churches right across Spain.
War.

General vision or viewpoint

The overall genera vision or viewpoint is deeply pessimistic and sombre. We witness the devastation and havoc caused by war from the outset of this story. The brutal reality of war dominates almost every section of this story. It is seen to be a wasteful and totally futile action. Lee succeeds however in painting many pictures of strong human relationships and shows us how in spite of tragedy and corruption, love and affection between people can still survive and bring a certain amount of healing.

Theme or Issue

War/ Violence
The whole theme of war and violence is seen to be very negative throughout this story. Lee recounts how futile war is and shows through his many anecdotes how war destroys and corrupts human relations and family life. There are many graphic scenes of bloodshed and human suffering the picture given to us however is grim and dismal and is shown through Lee’s own failure in the story to join any serious resistance movement against Franco. Lee in fact is lucky to escape with his life at the end.
He speaks about the gaseous squalor of a country at war, of war as an infection so deep that it seems to rot the earth and how the landscape is stained and mottled. He also mentions that worse than a country at war, this one was at war with itself- an ultimate more permanent wastage.’ He is traumatized by the fact that in a fit of panic he kills an unknown young man and mentions how this action in no way affects victory or defeat. The entire novel is an ironic and cynical commentary on war.
Religion
Much of the Spanish Civil War was waged against Catholics and their religion. Lee recounts at different stages how himself and members of his force occupied some old churches, which were ransacked and destroyed. They were oblivious of the fact that these had been places of worship and sacred to the local people. At one stage Lee tells an anecdote about how the local people became violent with rage when they discovered himself and other soldiers using the church area profanely. Lee also tells another anecdote about a farmer and his wife and the enormous trouble they went in order to conceal church vessels and candles. It would seem that the Spanish peasants held their religion to be precious even more so since they were suffering persecution on account of it.
Women
Most of the women in the story are seen as survivors. Lee tells a story about a young woman whom he met a few times and how offered him comfort during the harsh days of the war. A lot of the women that are treated in the story come from the peasant class. Lee recounts in a vivid manner the heroism of some of these women and how they are courageous in defending their faith in the midst of persecution and suffering.

Aspects of story:

Tension
The tension in this novel occurs when Lee is struggling to leave Tarazona after the break up of the International Brigade.
Climax
The Climax occurs when Lee is put in prison while he is trying to return to London just at the end of the war. He is arrested as a deserter and a spy.
Resolution
The resolution occurs when Bill Rust Editor of the Daily Worker manages to intercede on his behalf and organizes his release from prison.

Hero / Heroine / Villain

Hero 
Lee himself seems to be the main hero. He gives a realistic and humorous account of his various exploits in Spain during the war.
Heroine
The main heroine seems to be this unnamed girl whom Lee meets at different stages and who offers him comfort in the middle of squalor and suffering.
Villain
There seems to be no doubt that the real villain in this story is General Franco who caused a great deal of anguish and suffering during the Spanish Civil War.