11 Responding to a character in chapters 1&2 of Private peaceful (Big Joe)

Big Joe, or Big Joe Peaceful, is the big brother of the narrator, Thomas. Thomas is quite jealous of Big Joe because he never had to go to school. This is because Big Joe as a baby had meningitis, which later led up to brain damage. Which is also why his responses are very child-like, which adds character to Big Joe. I like his character because it’s a bit different, Big Joe is special. I sometimes also enjoy reading about him because of his child-like responses, which also makes me feel bad for him, that he was one of the unfortunate kids to have that. Even though Big Joe is a bit different from Thomas, or Tommo, Charlie and Molly, they all still love Big Joe regardless of his brain damage. Big Joe is almost always smiling and happy, and he’s very devoted to his family, friends and all of his pets, he’s a very nice guy. He always sings the song “Oranges and Lemons” because it makes him happy and it comforts him. This song is very symbolic in the book because later through the story, we see that in the war, it comforts Thomas and Charlie because it reminds them of their older brother Big Joe. Big Joe is also very religious without a doubt, not like Tommo who questions religion at some points in the book. Big Joe believes that heaven is in the church tower in the village they live in, which is why when his dog died, that’s the spot he went to because he thought he could find his dog there.