[Major Spoilers to James Jones’ “From Here to Eternity” (1951)]
Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt is at a significant point in his enlistment. He willfully transfers out of his unit in the U.S. Army after a boxing incident and decides to quit fighting. In Prewitt’s time, competitive boxing is common in the U.S. Army. Units sent their personnel to challenge other units. Boxing offered soldiers a chance at prestige, a way to pass the time, and an opportunity to gamble. Not only is boxing common in the U.S. Army in the early 20th century, but it’s also widely celebrated and deeply embedded in military culture.
Prewitt is a welterweight boxing champion and is regarded as one of the best boxers at his post in Hawaii. Throughout the novel, soldiers remark on their deep respect for him as a fighter. This forms part of Prewitt’s identity. He’s recognized by others, who want to use him to win matches for their units. Both Prewitt’s peers and superiors see him as a tool to achieve prestige.
Prior to the novel’s start, Prewitt accidentally injures an opponent and causes him to go blind. The event traumatizes Prewitt and creates a rift between his internal and external identity. Others continue to value him based on his boxing. However, Prewitt begins to disassociate from fighting. The contrast between external expectations about Prewitt and his internal value system form one of the central conflicts of “From Here to Eternity”.
On the opening page of the novel, Prewitt is introduced as he transfers units from the Bugle Corps to the Infantry. He lives on post and must move from the Bugle Corps barracks to the Infantry barracks. As Prewitt stands overlooking his old barracks, he has the following series of thoughts:
“Somewhere along the line, he thought, these things have become your heritage. You are multiplied by each sound that you hear. And you cannot deny them, without denying with them the purpose of your own existence. Yet now, he told himself, you are denying them, by renouncing the place that they have given you.” (1)
Somewhere along the line, he thought, these things have become your heritage.
Prewitt begins by organizing his thoughts linearly and questioning the association between himself and his environment. “[A]long the line” implies a before and after. Once an event occurs, one cannot go back before it. Prewitt’s thoughts confess that he’s thinking about time passing.
What does it mean to have a “heritage”? Prewitt looks out at familiar sights from the balcony of his old barracks. There are undoubtably deep memories here. Objects that might appear ordinary to a passerby may be laden with personal history. Prewitt recognizes that these seemingly uninteresting objects have become part of his identity.
“Somewhere” implies that he cannot specifically point to when. It’s crept in and blended with his daily existence. He didn’t notice until it was time to leave.
Prewitt recognizes that the home that he’s leaving has imprinted on him through the passage of time. He did not intentionally carve this identity for himself. There’s an element of sadness to this. Now that Prewitt is leaving, these uninteresting “things” that were previously valueless are recognized as part of him. They’re priceless but dear.
You are multiplied by each sound that you hear.
Beyond Prewitt’s identity as a champion boxer, he is also a very well-respected bugler. After Prewitt’s best friend is murdered, he borrows a bugle to play the evening taps on post. His peers pause their activities in the barracks and step outside to listen to the mournful tune. Prewitt’s peers remark throughout the book that he is the best bugler on post. Prewitt’s decision to transfer out of the Bugle Corps serves as a double loss. His peers lost their best boxer and their best bugler.
How can one be “multiplied”? When something is multiplied, it typically becomes more or greater. For example, one can become stronger or angrier. There’s an intentional vagueness in Prewitt’s thoughts. He recognizes that he has become something more, but he has not yet defined what that more is.
“Sound” also plays a role here. In the Army, sound is used to signal an action or an event. The morning begins with a bugler playing reveille. The sound signals to the soldiers that it’s time to wake up or that there’s a place to be. Taps is played in the evening to mark the end of the day. As a bugler, Prewitt acts as the signaler of these events.
As Prewitt contemplates his connection to the Army, he realizes the significance of sound. There are routine sounds that measure his life. Somehow, these sounds are connected to him, and they make him greater in some capacity.
And you cannot deny them, without denying with them the purpose of your own existence.
Prewitt’s internal conflict is shown plainly here. He recognizes that the Army has become part of him. His identity is formed through his daily routines, where he lives, and the sounds that he hears. In some capacity, these things have made him greater. He has not consciously formed this identity, but he recognizes it now that he’s leaving.
The decision to leave comes in contrast with his self-concept. At some point, Prewitt’s “existence” is conflated with his unconscious, and unchosen heritage. Through time, bugling and boxing have become part of him and his “purpose”.
By choosing to leave both the Bugling Corps and boxing, Prewitt sees himself as “denying” the core of who he is.
Yet now, he told himself, you are denying them, by renouncing the place that they have given you.
Prewitt admonishes himself for choosing to leave. The use of “renouncing” implies that he is casting off something negative. This contrast with the word “given”. Typically, things that are given are given willingly. By placing the words near each other, there’s a suggestion of ungratefulness.
Within his self-doubt, Prewitt separates himself from “them”. There is strong social pressure for Prewitt to continue boxing and bugling. He creates an undefined “them” to represent those who want him to carry-on as normal.
Prewitt sees that by leaving, he is “denying” others something that they deserve because they have “given” him this “place” that is deeply connected to his existence and his self-identity.
Through these thoughts, Prewitt recognizes that boxing and bugling have made him who he is. He has become a “30-Year Man” and he loves the Army. The sounds, the routines, and the sense of purpose have given him an identity. Yet, due to the boxing incident, Prewitt recognizes that he cannot continue to fight. He is torn between what he loves and his own values. By exerting his own autonomy to leave, he feels that he is denying the appreciation that he owes the Army. They want him to box and bugle, but he cannot do it anymore.
Throughout the novel, Prewitt’s identity to others is solely as a boxer or a bugler. Except for his close friends, everyone sees him as one of those two roles. He is constantly reminded that he has willingly cast off what everyone else wants. He is denying these people, who have given him an identity, what they want and for that, he feels guilty.
What Prewitt experiences is the same difficulty that everyone has with making life-changing decisions. Prewitt instinctually knows that he cannot continue the same path, yet the other path is rife with difficulty as well. While Prewitt tries to appease other’s expectations of him, he cannot violate his own values. He continues to reassert his self-identity as a soldier to himself and others. Yet, as his enlistment goes on, he is punished for refusing to box. The Army that he takes pride in and loves, eventually ends up killing him.
Bibliography
Jones, James. From Here to Eternity. New York, N.Y., Delta, 1998.
Everyone Wanders 