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WAR in the Cone Gatherers
 As well as the 2nd World War that is raging around them,
the characters of the Cone Gatherers experience many
conflicts between class, nature, and within themselves
i.e Duror’s descent into madness
Chapter One
 The theme of war is introduced in chapter one, when
Neil and Calum are first seen gathering cones in the
trees
 ‘A destroyer steamed seawards, with a sailor singing
cheerfully. More sudden and swifter than hawks, and
roaring louder than waterfalls, aeroplanes had shot down
from the sky over the wood, whose autumnal colours
they seemed to have copied for camouflage. In the
silence that had followed gunshots cracked far off in the
wood’ page 1, The Cone Gatherers, Robert Jenkins, the canons 15
 This quote shows that although the war is being fought
far away, it’s still present and affects the characters day
to day lives
How war effects Calum
 ‘He had been told that all over the world in the war now
being fought men, women and children were being
slaughtered in thousands; cities were being burnt down. He
could not understand it, and so he tried, with success to
forget it.’ page 3, The Cone Gatherers, Robert Jenkins, the canons 15
 Shows that Calum does in fact understand what is
happening in the war, however he doesn’t understand other
peoples emotions, and why people would do that to one
another.
 Calum is oblivious to the fact that the people around him
are undergoing their own internal war, mostly because of
him
How war effects Neil
 ‘Sometimes I think it must be the war. There seems to
be death in the air’ page 5 The Cone Gatherers, Robert Jenkins, the canons 15
 Neil feels personally affected by the war; he’s confused
as to why he feels so resentful towards it
 ‘You can make use of a tree, but what use is a dead
man?......’Aren’t we ourselves picking up the cones for
seed? Can you replace dead men?’ page 5 The Cone Gatherers, Robert
Jenkins, the canons 15
 Shows Neil’s anger towards the state the war has left
him and Calum in
How war effects Duror
 As well as experiencing the 2nd World War, Duror is
undergoing his own personal battle
‘He was like a tree, still straight, still showing green leaves;
but underground death was creeping along the roots.’ The Cone
Gatherers, Robert Jenkins, the canons 15
Duror is being consumed by evil, but is fighting with
himself to detain it inside him and not show his
deterioration to the world
 Duror feels anger as he wanted to go to war, but is too
old, and so feels that if he had gone to war, he would not
have to deal with Calum and Neil
‘I’m too old, sir’, said Duror. ‘They won’t have me. I’ve treid
three times.’ chapter three The Cone Gatherers, Robert Jenkins, the canons 15
Lady Runcie-Campbell
 Feels that she has a certain power now her husband has
gone to war, although she wishes that he was there to
help her make decisions
‘She managed the estate in the absence of Sir Colin, hwo
was in the army’ page 10 The Cone Gatherers, Robert Jenkins, the canons 15
Faces a battle with Neil over their opposing classes
 Lady RC experiences a conflict within herself as she in
unsure of whether to chose her Christian values over her
social position
Chapter Six
 The theme of war is magnified and reflected in the deer
drive that takes place in chapter 6. The drive resembles a
battle, and the characters act as if they are troops
advancing on the enemy
‘when we get near the guns, drop down on your face…’
page 80 The
Cone Gatherers, Robert Jenkins, the canons 15
‘there are men getting medals for far less that what we’re
going to face’ page 81 The Cone Gatherers, Robert Jenkins, the canons 15
The characters are seen through these two quotes, to be
taking the drive as seriously as if it were a real battle
The drive is very military orientated, and the area where it
takes place has been planned and drawn out as a battlefield