Rifle For Waatie Character Analysis

Imagine having to partake in a war. What would you do? What do you think will happen? In the novel, Rifles for Watie, a character named Jeff leaves his home to participate in the civil war. Throughout the book, Jeff's character, attittude towards war, and his experience change quite a bit from when he was first starting his quest. However, in some ways they are also very similar.

One of the things that changes during Jeff's journey is his character. In the beginning of the
Rifles for Watie, Jeff starts out as a timid, cowardly boy. According to the book, before Jeff went to the war, his father was attacked by a group of Bushwackers. Jeff was frightened, and didn't know what to do at first. After a while, he finally manages to rescue

Despite being scared, Jeff was also a little brave during the incident with the Bushwackers. He was able save his dad, and that was almost as brave as participating in the Civil War.

In addition to Jeff's character, Jeff's attitude towards war became different as well. In the beginning of the novel, Jeff had percieved war to be short and sweet. He desperately wanted to become active in it too. These are displayed in the quotes made by Jeff in page 15 and 19 in the novel, which were: "Don't cry, Mama...I won't be gone long. This war's just a breakfast spell.", and, "..Although Jeff wanted to go to war far worse than he had ever wanted to go anywhere else in his life, he even felt a little like crying himself.". Soon enough, Jeff discovers that it wasn't the case. He found out that war wasn't all fun and games. What it actually was about however was growing up, facing hardships and fighting hard. Although he had learned a valuable lesson, both before and after the war Jeff had felt a little sad because of the deaths of his friends and his homesickness, which was stated in the previous quote. Lastly, the final differentiation was Jeff's experience with war. At first, Jeff wasn't