We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too, But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you; An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints, Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Soldiers are ordinary men, not heroes or villains.
- In plain terms
- Soldiers are just normal men, not perfect.
- What can you take from it?
- See soldiers as humans, not myths.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do you view veterans?
Another view
It dismisses the courage of some soldiers.
More from Rudyard Kipling
They've taken of his buttons off an' cut his stripes away, An' they're hangin' Danny Deever in the mornin'.
Permalink to quote #22 For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' 'Chuck him out, the brute!' But it's 'Saviour of 'is country' when the guns begin to shoot.
Permalink to quote #24 'What are the bugles blowin' for?' said Files-on-Parade. 'To turn you out, to turn you out', the Colour-Sergeant said.
Permalink to quote #21
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