Stepping on the Cracks

To Stuart, angels represent healing, protection, and peace. In his delirium, Stuart sees the whiteness of angel wings and hears their singing. Their color suggests purity and innocence, much like Hahn’s symbolic use of the winter snow, but this angelic whiteness remains untainted by blood and human conflict, offering only aid and comfort. Stuart rambles, “Just the angels, that’s all we need, the angels” (115), implying that angels will protect everyone fighting in the war and bring the men home safely.

Stuart also calls Elizabeth, Margaret, and Barbara his angels of the battlefield. His reference alludes to Clara Barton, the famous American nurse, teacher, and founder of the American Red Cross. The girls do in a sense act as human angels, caring for Stuart and nursing him back to health while breaking human law for what they see as a morally higher purpose. They are on the side of the angels, and in helping Stuart, take the side of peace.

To those around Stuart, the angels are an alarming figment of his ravings and signify the gravity of his illness. Margaret anxiously remembers the angels the dying Little Eva saw in Uncle Tom’s Cabin and believes Stuart’s vision foreshadows his death.