Lovely War

“It’s because they’re weak and damaged that they can love. […] We need nothing. They’re lucky to need each other.”

The perfection of gods leaves Aphrodite ultimately alone, because none of them can truly love her or be loved. She shares the stories of James and Hazel and Aubrey and Colette to illustrate to her husband her unexpected envy of the lives of ordinary humans. Aphrodite’s stories position readers to wonder whether love is indeed transcendent and magnificent.

“‘Yeah, well, they die,’ Ares points out.”

The gods debate whether humans and their relationships are ultimately ubiquitous and unimportant, or whether every story of love is unutterably beautiful and unique. Ares, the god of war, sneeringly derides mortals as uninteresting and unimportant. His lack of interest in the human romances illustrates Aphrodite’s belief that Hephaestus has a more loving heart than his brother.

“The Big Apple’s lights have dimmed, in case of German U-boats in the harbor or, Zeus forbid, Luftwaffe bomber planes from who-knows-where.”

It is established that both the frame narrative and Aphrodite’s tales take place during immense and disruptive global wars. Berry explores the occurrence of powerful love in times of war. All the stories suggest that love and war intersect, adding urgency, panic, pain, and longing to lovers separated by war or death.

“Even now, though the golden net divides the blacksmith from the goddess, there’s something between them. Something he can neither conquer nor destroy […] barring Ares from making Aphrodite completely his own.”

Ares envies the connection that still exists between Aphrodite and his brother, Hephaestus. Believing himself to be far more physically beautiful, and knowing the passion of their love affair, it is frustrating to Ares that there remains a connection between Aphrodite and Hephaestus. Ares’s thoughts foreshadow Aphrodite and Hephaestus’s later reconciliation and Aphrodite’s admission to her husband that Ares bores her.

“I was jealous of how he watched Hazel play, drinking in her music like water and tasting how she dissolved herself in it like a sugar cube.”

Music is a recurring motif in Lovely War that brings characters together, as well as producing joy, solace, and love. For James, the beauty of Hazel and the beauty of Hazel’s music are irrevocably intertwined. His immediate attraction to her foreshadows their romantic relationship.

“His cheeks were lean and smooth, and they looked so soft that Hazel’s fingers twitched to stroke them. The dread possibility that she might act upon the impulse was so mortifying to Hazel that she very nearly bolted for the door.”

Hazel’s attraction to James is clear in this internal reflection. Berry captures the excitement and agony of new love in Hazel’s jostling emotions of excitement, attraction, and mortification.

“Hazel watched his shoes and waited for the heat in her face to subside.”

Hazel is characterized as self-contained and shy in these opening chapters. This tendency is, endearingly, heightened by her immediate attraction to James.

“James took a step closer. ‘May I see you again before I go? […] As soon as possible. […] As much as I may.’”

Berry is interested in exploring the intersection between love and war. War induces a sense of urgency and the dreaded possibility of death, accelerating James and Hazel’s relationship.

“The Channel stretched between James and Hazel that night. It looks narrow on a globe, but when it divides two hearts, it might as well be the mighty Atlantic.”

Berry likens the channel between Britain and France to the immensity of the Atlantic Ocean. This metaphor illustrates the agony of separation felt by both James and Hazel. In subsequent years, the two will bridge this gap with letters sent back and forth, a recurring motif symbolizing the connections between characters separated by war.

“Tell me what you like for breakfast, and what you would name a dog.”

Through their ongoing correspondence, James and Hazel get to know each other better. Their mutual and sustained attraction is made evident. Some questions intimate a yearning for a shared future, such as James asking Hazel what she would name a dog. Later, in the satisfying denouement of their story, Hazel and James are able to live this life together that they discussed tentatively in early letters.

“But as for you going there, your more refined musical sensibilities won’t be to their liking.”

Mrs. Davies expresses commonly held racist beliefs that portrayed Black people as less cultured, less sophisticated, and less intellectual. Aubrey’s immense talent in playing piano, as well as his enjoyment of hearing Hazel play, contradicts these racist assertions. 

“Negroes can’t be trusted to behave like gentlemen to young ladies.”

Berry asserts that sex is deeply interwoven in the fabric of racism. Stereotypes depicted Black men as inherently violent, dangerous, and lustful. This racism is based on a myth of white purity, which cast interracial relationships as dangerous and subversive.

“Hazel’s pulse thrummed in her ear. ‘I thought all the troops needed entertainment.’”

Hazel is established as a heroic character in objecting to Mrs. Davies’s racist remarks, in spite of her fear in doing so. Hazel’s lack of racial prejudice foreshadows her mutually rewarding friendship with Aubrey.

“[Hades] can indulgently say, ‘Boys, boys,’ in a tone that also says, I could disintegrate you if I want to.”

Hades is characterized as ominous. Ares’s and Apollo’s clear respect and fear of Hades alludes to his immense power, as the power of Ares to start wars and Apollo to start plagues has been established.

“We ain’t gonna let you Negroes get a taste for white women. […] That’s why you was all in such a hurry to get to France.”

Aubrey is held at gunpoint by a white Southern marine. Many racist white American servicemen feared that the comparatively egalitarian treatment of Black servicemen in France, including the willingness of French women to spend time with them, might lead to attempts to overthrow racial segregation and institutionalized racism in America. This led to horrific acts of violent retaliation perpetrated by white servicemen on Black servicemen.

“When I’m with you, […] it doesn’t hurt as much.”

Berry suggests that love is redemptive and has the power to heal painful wounds and bring solace to suffering. Colette’s trust in Aubrey is made clear. Their romantic relationship, which will later lead to a marriage and a career in music in New York, is alluded to.

“He wished he could peel off the war like a scab.”

Berry alludes to James’s ongoing trauma, which would today be identified as post-traumatic stress disorder. Even with the distraction of seeing Hazel shortly, James feels changed and affected by his actions at the front.

“Six lives taken. Nothing, she knew, that she could do or say to offer comfort would erase that pain. It would never leave him.”

James feels irrevocably changed by his actions as a sniper. The guilt and trauma of having killed six men weighs heavily upon him. Hazel’s recognition that this pain will be with him forever acknowledges his post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as her role in his life as a constant supporter.

“Clamped against Billy’s chest, James began to shake.”

This scene, in which James quakes in the arms of his comrade, underscores the devastating effect of his witnessing Frank Mason’s sudden death, when he was unexpectedly hit by a rogue German shell. Berry exposes the trauma experienced by veterans. She also uses James’s compromised mental health, and Hazel’s acceptance of him, to suggest that powerful love occurs between imperfect and damaged people.

“How did one nation produce both humble souls and killers?”

While working at the POW camp, Hazel comes to realize that, like any other group of people, Germans are varied. She can no longer believe that British soldiers and their allies are inherently good, while German soldiers are inherently bad. This causes her to ponder the pointlessness of war.

“Even so, there was something in his face she hadn’t seen since Paris. Something, she thought, like peace.”

Hazel, already characterized as a sympathetic and kind character, can sympathize with and support James better after understanding the extent of his suffering. It is implied that telling the story of Frank Mason’s death to his wife has been somewhat cathartic although distressing for James, and the possibility of James’s recovery, along with a romantic reunion with Hazel, is implied.

“Let me, too, always be with you.”

Hazel expresses that she understands that James’s experiences will always be with him. Regardless, she wants to be with him. This symbolizes an acceptance of James’s ongoing struggle with his shell shock and trauma. Their embrace symbolizes their renewed commitment to be together.

“‘So,’ Aubrey said, ‘want to get married Saturday?’”

Aubrey and Colette’s life together is confirmed in their decision to marry. This alludes to Berry’s pivotal theme, The Intersection of Love and War, as Colette and Aubrey’s relationship began in the stress and trauma of France during World War I.