Andrew Lockard and Ian Magnone

Literary Analysis - The Soldier Ran Away

1. Inciting Incident - Jeff decides to build his father a pipe rack for his dad.  He builds it in the attic, so his father won't discover it.
Exposition - Jeff lives with his father, an American army colonel, in Germany as an army doctor.  During his off time, he works with his father at the carpenters bench.
Rising Action - Jeff realizes that somebody has been watching him as he has been working on the pipe bench.  He cannot tell his father about the man in the attic because he will find the pipe bench.
Climax - Jeff finds the man in the attic, who turns out to be an American soldier, and asks him what he is doing there.  The soldier has apparently lost his mind and run away from the army.
Falling Action - The soldier explains his story to Jeff.  He promises Jeff that he can get him an electric jigsaw and leaves to retrieve him one.
Resolution - The solider returns and finishes the pipe rack.  Jeff tells his father about the man after he becomes ill, and he is taken to the hospital.

2. The setting of the story was after WWII in Germany, in a small, rural house where an American Army colonel lives with his son.

3. Jeff - Kind, outgoing, generous; Jeff helps the soldier he finds in his attic and befriends him, despite not knowing anything about the man.
Colonel Wheeler - Educated, intelligent, good-willed; He is an educated Doctor, and helps the ill runaway soldier at his own expense.

4. a. the wilderness - Visual; it was important because it isolated the house and the Colonel and Son, and they thought they were safe.
b. the reading lamp - Visual; it represents the safety and goodness of his father.
c. the attic - Tactile; it was his hiding spot where Jeff felt he could be safe and build his bench, as well as keep his secret from the world.
d. the masks - Visual; the masks represent the different aspects of himself, and the re-arrangement of them signifies changes in himself.

5. a. the wilderness - Symbolizes the security and isolation of being surrounded by woodlands.
b. the attic - Symbolizes a dark, unknown place.  Jeff is venturing into a world on his own and has to make his own decisions.
c. the fox mask - Symbolizes Jeff's own cleverness and quick wit.
d. the devil's mask - Symbolizes the evil in Jeff.  It is the temptation to do bad instead of good.
e. the cat mask - Symbolizes Jeff's flexibility.
f. the reading lamp - Symbolizes a "divine good."  His father always appeared under the lamplight.
g. Jeff's mother's empty bedroom - Symbolizes the lack of a maternal influence.  He is without the "realm of the mother", or a secure place.

6. a. Maturity - The story centers around Jeff reaching maturity.  He does so by accepting responsibility for what his actions and does the right thing by telling his father of the runaway soldier at his own expense.
b. Fear - Jeff is afraid of revealing the truth to his father throughout the story.  In the end, he overcomes his fears and makes the right decision.
c. Rules/Breaking the Rules - Jeff doesn't tell his father about the runaway soldier.  He is breaking the rules, but he learns that sometimes doing good is not breaking the rules, although breaking the rules is not good.