Lovely War

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2019

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Overture, Chapters 1-3

Act I, Chapters 4-26

Act II, Chapters 27-59

Act III, Chapters 60-91

Act IV, Chapters 92-112

Act V, Chapters 113-124

Exit Music, Chapters 125-126

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Themes

Racist Views Around Sex and White Purity

Berry explores widespread hatred and mistreatment of Black servicemen in the Great War. In particular, in her Historical Note, she emphasizes the importance of sex in the perpetuation of racism: “‘Degenerate’ Black men had to be kept far from white women” based on “fears of contaminating the ‘purity’ of the white race through interbreeding” (455). Despite incredibly patronizing and deeply racist US Army memos advising French military and civilians to avoid treating Black American soldiers with “familiarity and indulgence,” the “relatively egalitarian French embraced Black soldiers as brothers-in-arms” and “local women welcomed their company” (456).

Many white American servicemen resented this treatment of Black servicemen, believing that Black Americans “are a constant menace to the [white] American, who has to repress them sternly” (457). Joey’s tragic and brutal murder—“Bastards strangled him […] Beat his face in with their rifles”—is a consequence of this shocking racism, a retaliatory killing in response to Black Americans experiencing fair and kind treatment in France (228).

These racist views around sex and the myth of white purity also explain the difficulties that Aubrey and Colette experience as a couple in America in the 1920s; the union of a Black man and a white woman was perceived as deeply problematic and subversive. White women warn Colette in “snide comments” that she is unsafe with Aubrey, reflecting damaging stereotypes that represent Black men as inherently violent, unsafe, and less civilized (438). Although Aubrey is careful to never touch Colette in the presence of potential white employees, “he was warned more than once to keep his hands off her” (438). Berry’s novel effectively responds to racist views by immersing readers in the lives of well-rounded, sympathetic characters who bear no resemblance to the offensive stereotypes promoted by white supremacists.

White Americans played an active role in keeping Black Americans in a position of subjugation and inferiority: “Aubrey was frequently told that the kitchen was hiring busboys and dishwashers if he wanted to do an honest day’s work” (438). This suggestion illustrates the condescending view that Black people are inherently better suited to menial work, rather than being called to pursue creative or intellectual callings. Aubrey and Colette’s music is derisively branded “Negro music”; they are told countless times that clientele of cafés and clubs will not be interested in it (437). This reveals a damaging generalization held at the time that music, art, or literature produced by Black individuals was inherently less cultured, refined, or desirable. Hazel witnesses this form of racism in France when she is working with the YMCA; she is told that “these American Negro soldiers supply their own music. […] your more refined musical sensibilities won’t be to their liking” (102).

The Intersection of Love and War

Berry’s story opens in the midst of World War II. The effect of the ongoing war on life in New York is quickly established in Chapter 3: “the Big Apple’s lights have been dimmed, in case of German U-boats in the harbor, or Zeus forbid, Luftwaffe bomber planes from who knows where” (14). Despite this atmosphere of fear and danger, Aphrodite and Ares are involved in a passionate love affair: “In an instant they are in each other’s arms. Shoes are kicked off, hats tossed aside […] this is a kiss for the ages” (5). This opening scene establishes the presence of all-consuming love in times of war. Aphrodite’s trial for infidelity forms the frame narrative through which the stories of James and Hazel, and then Colette and Aubrey, are told. These two narratives are set decades earlier, during World War I (The Great War) and are also characterized by passionate love in the midst of violent war. Berry explores this unexpected intersection of love and war through both the frame story and the central stories of the two human couples.

War creates a sense of urgency in budding romance; James and Hazel meet at a parish dance a week before James is to be sent to the front. He implores her, “May I see you again before I go? […] As soon as possible. […] As much as I may” (27). James knows that “he was in grave danger of heading off to the Front as a soldier in love” but cannot resist the overwhelming urge of seeing Hazel as much as he can before leaving to the front (27). When Hazel asks James, over tea, “Do you know where you’ll be stationed in France?” she secretly thinks, “Why do you have to be heading off to the front? Why now?” (45). Hazel doesn’t tell her parents about James, for fear that they will “insist on meeting you, and on chaperoning our time, and on limiting it to whatever they felt was proper;” she tells him that “we only have one week, I don’t want to waste any of it” (78).

According to Aphrodite, the war “and all its finality” “pry[s] its cold fingers in between them” (79). They exchange love-filled letters imagining a future together. This imagined future is made more intoxicating and filled with longing by the potential that it may not happen; death was ubiquitous on the front during the Great War. The tragedy of love lost is presented in Frank and Adelaide Mason’s story; Adelaide weeps as James tells her the horrific circumstances of Frank’s death—blown apart by a rogue German shell after successfully fighting off numerous stormtroopers.

War also brings a tragic end to Colette and Stéphane’s love story. They share their first kiss in July 1914. On August 23, mere weeks later, Dinant is reduced to “only smoking rubble” (120). When the Germans arrive, “Stéphane ran through the streets, searching for Colette. The Germans caught him and shot him” (121). Colette’s life is forever shaped by this tragic loss. She finds love again with Aubrey, who fortunately survives his stints at the front and provides a life partner for her to love and be loved by. Love that is affected by the trauma of war is presented as strengthened through tribulation; both Aubrey and Colette, and James and Hazel, treasure each other all the more after their close brushes with death.

Greek Gods and the Downside of Perfection

In Berry’s novel, the world is presided over by the Greek gods of the Olympic pantheon. The pantheon is headed by 12 gods, the most important being Zeus. Five of these gods are present in the events of the story: Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Ares, Apollo, and Hades; others, like Hermes and Zeus, are referred to although not directly involved in the events. Each god has a sphere of control and influence within the human world. Aphrodite, for example, is the goddess of beauty, passion, and love; she can witness, participate in, and influence all human events pertaining to these areas as she chooses.

The gods are presented as all-powerful. They can appear in human forms to have discussions and love affairs, but they can also be infinitely present in any form, seen or unseen, globally and in many places at once. This is clear in Ares’s constant monitoring of the many theaters of war in both world wars, while simultaneously being present in the Manhattan hotel room. The gods also have perfect memory of all the events in their respective spheres of control; Apollo can summon memories of all musical developments, sunrises and sunsets, and diseases and plagues that he unleashed. Aphrodite knows specific details of all human love affairs, and Hades is aware of details and circumstances of every person who has died throughout history; he can recall and articulate exact conversations held with recently deceased people as well as the afterlife imagery that he created for them to ease their passing. This is illustrated in his detailed description of Hazel’s passing, for which he provided the Royal Albert Music Hall, populated by everyone Hazel loves watching her piano performance from the balcony. He takes on the form of her music tutor, Monsieur Guillaume, and describes her playing of Beethoven’s “Pathétique” and “Adagio cantabile” as he sits with her on the piano bench.

The Olympians would appear to be far luckier than humans in their immense power, physical perfection, and immortality. However, Aphrodite makes the argument through her stories of two human relationships that human life has many advantages. For all her perfect beauty, she does not feel loved by her husband, her lover, or anyone else. She wonders if love is even possible between Olympians, although she yearns for love in her marriage to the misshapen Hephaestus. She chooses the story of James and Hazel as a way to reach out to Hephaestus. James’s observation that Hazel is “wrong to call yourself a face,” because the woman he loves is much more than a beautiful face, is what Aphrodite wants to say to her husband (426). Humans’ imperfections and their struggles to accept them, in themselves and in each other, are what makes love worthwhile.