A Fable

Within the nuances of war as presented in A Fable, the dynamics between the social classes is an important theme. In the context of the novel, the characters can be split broadly into two classes: enlisted men and officers. The enlisted men are typically drawn from working class backgrounds, both in the countries of France, America, and Britain, as well as those countries’ respective colonies. These men grew up largely without material wealth and were drafted into the war either by law or through a deluded idea of nationalism that does not benefit them, but which benefits from the blood they shed. These men are the key demographic for the corporal’s argument that they should simply lay down their weapons. The corporal helps to show these men that they do not belong to the same social class—or even the same abstract conception of war—as the officers who direct them into battle. Even across national and ethnic lines, the corporal tries to show his followers that the enlisted men have more in common with one another than they do with officers from their own countries. The corporal’s message is not just one of peace, but one of class solidarity. His message is feared by the officers, not only because they resent the kind of peace he tries to bring about, but because he undermines their elite status within the military.

The corporal’s message may seem radical to the enlisted men, but the officers immediately understand why it is dangerous. Gragnon’s first instinct is to execute everyone who has been contaminated with an understanding of their class relations. The generals who outrank him go one step further, inviting their German counterpart to share a drink and discuss the resumption of the war. After four years of sending enlisted men to die at their behest, the German and French generals sip brandy and discuss the war in abstract terms, a privilege never afforded to an enlisted man. When the enlisted men try to reach out to their counterparts across no-man’s land, they are bombed by their own side. When the generals do it, they treat their meeting between enemies as a matter of necessary etiquette. Furthermore, the German general immediately shoots his enlisted pilot after landing in the enemy base. He is able to step foot in the enemy base, but the lower ranked men are not. The generals recognize their own class solidarity and encourage and indulge it in one another, all while conspiring to ensure that they maintain control over the military. Their main concern is not for the outcome of the war, but to ensure that the enlisted men do not realize the power they have.

Between the officers and the enlisted men are the soldiers who do not quite belong in either category. At the front line, Gragnon demands the enlisted men attack and, when they do not, he wants them shot. Later, he is shot for failing to control his men. He does not realize that he does not belong among the true elite and, as he demanded the execution of 3,000 men, he actually condemns himself. Similarly, the runner is someone who has forsaken the officers’ privilege and asked to be demoted to the position of an enlisted man. Having been promoted, he resents the hypocrisy and the violence that he witnessed as an officer. This is why the corporal’s suggestion is so tempting for him and why, after he is maimed in an attack by his own side, he harbors his resentment for years. He interrupts the marshal’s funeral to try to draw attention to the man’s hypocrisy but, after the successful conclusion of the war, people are ready to forget rather than acknowledge that they are still locked in a class war.