The beginning chapter introduces them, where they are and what they are doing. They are in Belleau Wood, France in the year 1918. The characters are Max Meyer - a Jew from New York, Ellis Warne - an Irish doctors' son from Ohio, Birch Tucker - an Arkansas farm boy, and Jefferson Canfield - the son of a black sharecropper.
It starts out when Max, Ellis and Birch make a bet while chasing a German plane. Birch bets that the German will die, and Max and Ellis bet that he will live to see another day. Birch shoots and does not miss. As the plane spirals downward, Birch regrets his action of selfishness, and wills the German to get back up and fly.
Birch made a really bad decision, by putting the life of another human on a bet. Birch realizes this only after he shoots. Sometimes, when we make bad choices, we make them in haste and don't think of the end result. This was the case with Birch.
So the action intensifies as Birch watches the German plane spiral. Max and Ellis are willing the pilot to get back up so they could win the bet, while Birch wills him to get up because he feels guilty. The plane crashes. Max and Ellis are sure that he must be dead, and they hand over their money to Birch. He takes the money, and goes to see if the German is all right, hoping that he indeed did live. He finds the man painfully trying to get out of the plane which had now caught on fire. Birch helps him get out, and takes him to the nearest hospital.
So, after making such a horrible decision, he tries to fix it. This is what we all should aim for. When we make a mistake, we should do everything in our power to try and fix it.
However, Birch is helping a German! A German officer, who had probably killed more American men than they could ever imagine! Why would he want to help him? Because it was the right thing to do, and Birch knew it. He created a problem, this was the result, he felt guilty, and in spite of the man's race, he helped him get to a hospital.
So, at the end of the first chapter, (which is as far as I got), they just got him to the hospital, and got him in, in spite of resistance because the man was a German officer.
And that is my blog for this week!!
Lindsey
