Response to Chapters 1 & 2

Think Aloud Response:

"If Snap [the dog] had gone with us that night, as he wanted to, I should never have come into the peril of death, and this story would never have been told. But it's no good crying over spilt milk, and perhaps it wasn't such a bad thing after all." p.15

This passage gives the reader immediate foreshadowing and predicts that something bad will happen. The narrator and protagonist, Peter Brownrigg, narrates this after the fact, and hints that what is about to happen ends up being a dangerous situation for him. However, he also makes note that what is about to happen isn't worth regretting, and maybe wasn't actually that bad. I wonder what difference it would have made if Snap did go along?

"We'd been a happy enough family in our valley till young Sir Philip Morton inherited his grandfather's estate a couple of years before... But Sir Philip soon showed us that he wasn't a soft young man. In fact, he was extremely hard. We were sorry for the lowland farmers who rented lands from him, for their rents began to go up like rockets. Then he turned his attention to us. ...Heaven help the man who puts a stone wall round [our meadows] and calls them his-even if he has money and men in livery and a "Sir" in front of his name. That's what Sir Philip did that summer." p.17

I feel sympathy for those farmers; their lives were going smoothly. Then, Sir Philip comes in and tries to mess everything up. I wonder about Sir Philip's motive behind making life difficult for the farmers–was it greed? Why didn't he just follow his grandfather's example and let everyone live a good life? The description Peter offers of Sir Philip is interesting; it shows the contempt that the farmers feel for the new landlord. And it was somewhat amusing (in a twisted, sardonic way) how Sir Philip ultimately goes ahead with the one thing that will rile the farmers in the valley. This was done without a rational reason; he arbitrarily removes the right of the farmers to access the land. This ties in with our preview activity pertaining to our rights as a student and our response to their arbitrary removal. His behaviour seems almost typical of a modern-era English noble: use your money and power to your own benefit; it doesn't matter who you hurt or what collateral damage you cause.
"We all clustered round, and he [Peter’s father] made us swear a solemn oath we'd tell no one a single word about the night's doings. Sir Philip could do nothing to the whole village, but if he got proof against one or two individual men, he'd try to get his revenge on them... Then we all set to work with a will to throw down Sir Philip's wonderful wall." p.18

Finally, the purpose of the men sneaking out at night is revealed, though the fact that the reason was related to the wall was previously hinted at. I agree with the farmers' idea to rebel against Sir Philip. People have right to rebel against unjust treatment. The farmers seem to have a good plan–have the whole village tear down his wall, because Sir Philip can't do anything against a whole village; there are just too many people.

"Soldiers say that dawn is a dangerous time. I have heard that from men who have fought in Ireland and the Low Countries and in the steaming forests of the Spanish Main. It's the time when sentries get slack and their eyelids droop, and a wise enemy chooses his moment to launch a surprise attack." p.20

This is a definite foreshadowing. It corresponds with the chapter name "Dawn is Dangerous", and it relates to the current situation, when it is approaching dawn. When it mentions that “sentries get slack”, it can be interpreted as the sentries becoming complacent because there is no one in proximity, or they might just be tired and not as alert as they should be. I predict that one of the two will happen: someone becoming cocky or someone becoming tired.

“I skipped into the shelter just before the cavalcade reached me. Then I was tempted by some devil I couldn’t resist; I turned round with a piece of rock in my fist and shied it straight at Sir Philip. I don’t think it touched either man or horse, they were traveling too fast, but it made the horse shy, and threw the men behind into temporary confusion.

‘There’s one of ’em, sir!’ a man shouted, and flung up his pistol. The muzzle flamed in the twilight, and it is a wonder my story didn’t finish there and then.” p.22&23

It turns out that Peter makes a cocky move. He is tempted to throw the rock, and does not resist the temptation. If he had thought carefully, he would have realized that throwing a rock at Sir Philip and his men could very likely result in a disproportionate punishment. And that disproportionate punishment was being shot at by a pistol. It was a narrow miss, however, and the bullet grazed his hair and blew the cap right off his head. I wonder if his lack of self-control was due to the fact that it was dawn, or if it was just his teenage instincts.

“Anyhow, I promised myself, I’ll go back there tonight when the coast’s clear and find my cap. A cap with a bullet-hole–that’ll be something to show at school, something they’ll have to believe in. They all know that green cap of mine, and it has my name in it, anyhow, so they can’t pretend I’ve got hold of someone else’s.” p.26

It seems silly at first that Peter would show off his cap even though it might provide proof that he angered one of Sir Philip’s men. Peter’s behaviour, however, could largely be attributed to the fact that he is a teenager. He wants to show off to his peers how he survived such a scrape, which would result in them admiring him. It might get him into trouble, but it seems worth the risk if he can successfully show off.

“‘Two men,’ he said. ‘One of them’s the constable, but I don’t know the other. They’d got that green cap of yours–’

As soon as he mentioned the green cap I knew that it was serious. I must have gone very white. Tim stared at me.” p.27&28

All of a sudden, Peter’s excitement about the cap turns into utter fear. I can relate to the fear portion. It’s that anxiety that you get when you get called to the principal’s office after you did something that might have been against the rules. I wonder what Peter will do–will he run away or comply with the master’s request to see him?

“Here was a nice mess! Just my luck! Of all the twenty or thirty who’d helped to demolish Sir Philip’s wall, I was the only one they had traced, and actually I had done less than all the others. But then I’d committed an assault… thrown a stone, which I had missed. It didn’t sound like much... This, though, was Sir Philip Morton, and it made a difference.” p.29

It’s unfortunate that Peter realizes that throwing the rock was a bad idea after he gets in trouble for it. He should have contemplated the possible negative outcomes of throwing the rock instead of falling into temptation. If he had had some self-control, everything would have been fine. Throwing the rock wasn’t worth it. But, as the narrator said before, there’s no use crying over spilt milk. Maybe something good will come out of this, as it was hinted at.

“I laughed, though I didn’t feel at all like laughing, and went tramping on up the mountain.
            I’d always wanted to see the outside world, I’d always wanted adventure, and now I was going to get it with a vengeance” p.32

The reason why Peter didn’t feel at all like laughing was because of the circumstances he was in. It must have been so difficult for his mother to see him go away for an indefinite amount of time. But, on the bright side, now Peter can fulfill his lifelong dream: to explore the world. It doesn’t matter if he’s in deep trouble, because now he can go on an adventure. Therein lies the irony: He should be sad and sobered by his situation where he has to leave home because people are after him for his misdoings, yet he is jubilant at the opportunity to see the outside world.