The Thin Red Line

[Ichingcarpenter]

“War don't ennoble men, it turns 'em into dogs. It poisons the soul.”
― James Jones, The Thin Red Line





The significance of the title of James Jones' Guadalcanal novel, The Thin Red Line. From my point of view, the title captures the essence of Jones' realistic combat novel and how men react to the insanity of war. One reference to a "thin red line" is in a section of a Rudyard Kipling poem Jones quotes on the title page:

"Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that,
An' Tommy, 'ow's your soul?
But it's 'thin red line of 'eroes,'
When the drums begin to roll-"

What Jones learned from his experience during that time and later in the long, terrifying battle for .

In another quote on the title page, Jones uses an old Midwestern saying to emphasize the slight distinction between how individual characters handle what they've been dealt by fate: "There's only a thin red line between the sane and the mad."








Just so the country and world knows what


'A thin red line''


Really means in regards to war.

[pscot]

1. A bloody line, drawn in sand

[Hestia]

2. Which just so happens to be a dick measuring tape - a la Jon Stewart