Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

The set of Churchill shotguns comes to symbolize the legacy of the Pettigrew family and, more largely, the value of preserving tradition. The guns also represent the values of sportsmanship to which the Major adheres, which includes fair play, decent behavior, dignity, and respect for women and children. From yet another perspective, the guns symbolize the Major and his brother, reflecting the separate lives they led and their lack of reconciliation at the end of Bertie’s life. Finally, as a superior and highly respected British creation, the guns stand for the attitudes of British superiority that spurred the expansion of the British Empire and its colonial control over lands like India.

E.J. Churchill is a British-based company that has been manufacturing shotguns since 1891. Churchill shotguns are highly regarded for their performance, reliability, and quality craftsmanship. The guns, separately, are well-crafted works that were made in an era when British gunsmiths were considered the best in the world. Paired together, the set is valued at £100,000 sterling. The weapons are luxury items that exhibit excellent craftsmanship. Given these associations, they signal the Major’s loyalty to family tradition even as his wish to possess these family heirlooms also hints at his stubborn, vain sense of pride, for he enjoys being admired for his fine guns.