Lieutenant Meals In Karl Marlantes The Matterhorn

In war, much reward is given, possibly to a fault. In The Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes, the reader follows Lieutenant Mellas, an Ivy League graduate, who in joining the military hopes to earn praise as a soldier. He will use this praise and reward as a soldier to propel his personal agenda. Once thrown into the thick, ghastly swamp that is the Vietnamese jungle, Mellas witnesses the true terror and horror of war. He quickly realizes what it means to be a true warrior, a man of character. This character that he comes to learn and understand throughout the novel comes to define him as a man and human being. As the story progresses, he becomes more angry with the U.S. Military. He begins to recognize how often the true heroes of war go unnoticed.

At the beginning of the text Mellas often is only thinking of the medal or reward behind his actions, he nonetheless always carries out the correct decision that ultimately best benefits his soldiers and comrades in Bravo Company, showing that he does in fact know how to behave well.

This in turn leads himself and the reader to question the difference between behaving well and being a good person. Although at the start of his military career Mellas only consists of a personality, a stigma of “fake it till’ you make it,” he quickly begins to realize what it means to be a good person, soldier, and brother to his fellow piers, showing that in order to be good, one must develop character, and fully understand the reasoning and ethics behind their actions.
At the beginning of the novel, Lieutenant Mellas merely consists of a personality. He is an Ivy League graduate who joined the Military in order to pad his resume, not to fight for his country or his brothers in war. The stigma that Mellas carries into the Military is one that is selfish; Mellas is there only to benefit himself. Early on, Mellas states that he

“would wish anything, and maybe even do anything, if it meant getting ahead or saving his own skin” (7). Mellas consists only of the shell of a soldier. From the outside, Mellas appears to be a good soldier, he follows orders, is respectful of others, and does his job well, but this is all a façade. On the inside, Lieutenant Mellas lacks the character that many of his fellow soldiers already have. He only knows how to behave well. Like a dog, he is able to follow simple commands, do his job well and behave correctly, but he does not understand what it actually means to contain character. He lacks the understanding of reason behind the actions he performs, revealing his true personality, and the difference between a man of character and a man of personality. A man of character understands the reasons and ethics behind his actions and is able to inform his own decisions based on those reasons. Mellas’s first real realization of this is when Lieutenant Hawke, his superior calls him out for being fake. Hawke, a leader and man of character on the battlefield, tells Mellas that he has seen hundreds of soldiers just like him, men only seeking glory and medals, lacking true character and integrity. Mellas is at first angry with the fact that someone would accuse him of this, but he then begins to think hard about what Hawke has said. From this point forward, Mellas’s attitude toward the war begins to change, he learns what it means to be a man of character, and begins to follow in the footsteps of Hawke.
Hawke, being a veteran soldier and man of character, sets an example for Mellas to follow throughout the book, allowing Mellas to ultimately change himself from a man of personality to a man of character.

At first, Mellas acts like and tries to curry favor with Hawke only to impress his superiors and someday move up in the ranks. Hawke, being a man of experience and character, quickly notices Mellas’s character flaw and calls it out. He tells Mellas that he should not be here if he is not willing to be a true warrior. Mellas, given command over a whole Platoon of soldiers, soon learns the brutality and cruelness of war. “Mellas went slowly through the photographs, his hands trembling…One picture was of a body with no head…There was a picture with three dead American kids all squeezed into one fighting hole” (397). At this point in time, Mellas just begins to realize what he as been thrown into. This brutality causes him to bond with his fellow soldier; something he notices about Hawke is his bond with all soldiers. He soon comes to feel this bond himself. This brotherhood that Mellas starts to feel for his fellow warrior is the beginning of his transformation into a man of character. It also drives him to question his reasoning for being on the battlefield. Mellas now understands all of what Hawke has said about not serving for the medal, but rather for your brothers standing next to you. More importantly, Mellas now understands what it means to be a man of character on the

battlefield and in life. Live for service to others. After this realization, Mellas is able to differ the between behaving well and being good, a man of personality and a man of character.
By the end of the text, Mellas understands what it means to be a good person, soldier, and brother. This realization transforms Mellas from a man of personality to a man of character, the difference being that he now informs his own ethical decisions. Through the bonding that takes place in war, Mellas realizes the true reasons behind his actions, he is no longer a dog following orders, but rather an informed human being making decisions based on his ethics. These ethics that Mellas has acquired are based on the brotherhood that he feels with his fellow warriors. “He felt a new camaraderie with these kids. He knew it was sentimental, even mawkish, and he tried not to succumb to the loss he felt at moving a step up in the hierarchy” (270). Mellas now is able to put reason into his actions, and is able to make self-sacrifice for his fellow soldier. “He felt that this was possibly his last moment of life, here behind this log with these comrades, and knew it was indescribably sweet…[he] said good-bye, silently, not wanting to leave the safety of the log and their warm bodies. Then he stood up and ran” (476). A man of true character is one that lives to serve others, and bases his decisions and actions accordingly. Mellas, having finally realized what it means to be good, uses reason and ethics to inform his decisions, transforming himself into a man of true character and integrity.
Mellas’s realizations show that in order to be good, one must also become a man of character rather than a man of personality, fully understanding the reasons and ethics behind their actions. At the beginning of the novel, Mellas is only a façade. He lacks the ethical reasoning and substance of a true warrior. He is merely a soldier following orders. Under the leadership of Hawke, Mellas begins to realize and value the truth of what it means to be good. Through the horrors and tragedies of war, Mellas becomes close to his company, allowing him to finally understand what it means to have true character. In order to have true character, and not just a personality, one must make informed decisions based upon the ethical reasoning behind their actions.