Summary

Book 4 begins with the narrator describing number of soldiers, including Lieutenant Claude Wheeler, riding a train toward New York, from which they will depart for war. Claude and his men join a boat called The Anchises. As they sail away, the narrator describes the “youths… sailing away to die for an idea, a sentiment,” and tells the reader the soldiers “make vows to a bronze image in the sea” (referring to the statue of liberty) (123).

On board, Claude is assigned a bunk with another Lieutenant, Fanning, whom Claude finds endearing despite his boyish behaviour. That night, Claude reflects that all the soldiers “taken one by one… were ordinary fellows,” but that together, they were “almost incredible” (127). The next day, the Doctor Trueman tells Claude there’s an epidemic of influenza onboard the ship, and Claude meets Victor Morse, who...