44 pages 1 hour read

Laurie Halse Anderson

Forge

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2010

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Chapters 23-27

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 23-27 Summary

Curzon and his fellow unitmembers dress as best they can for Caleb’s funeral. Due to the possible presence of British spies, they are forced to bury his body in an unmarked grave, on the outskirts of the camp. Eben is distant, clearly devastated by the loss. As his friends begin to shovel dirt back into Caleb’s grave, Eben breaks from his silence and tears a sleeve from his shirt. He unfurls the fabric and lays it across Caleb’s face to keep the dirt off of it. After, he heads back to camp alone.

That night, Eben and Curzon talk. Eben explains his closeness to Caleb – how he’d gone to live with his aunt and uncle at a young age, and that Caleb meant as much to him as a father would. Eben asks Curzon to divide Caleb’s clothes among the men in their hut – both as a form of honor and also out of need, as the army is in slim supply of new clothes. He tells the rest of his friends that the best way they could honor Caleb would be to win the war.

Their captain resigns his commission, following suit with a number of other officers, many of whom have begun to abandon the army.