Father Comes Home from the Wars Summary and Analysis

Part 1: A Measure of a Man Summary

The play opens with a musician singing about the dark night and long day. The singer questions whether an unspecified “he” will go or stay.

It’s early spring 1862, and a chorus of slaves stands outside a cabin. The setting is far west Texas an hour before dawn. The chorus places bets about whether Hero, a fellow slave, will join Boss-Master in the war. One chorus member bets Hero will reject the request because it’s too dehumanizing to tuck Boss-Master in a warm tent and then sleep “on the cold hard ground / While the cannons pound and the bullets fly.” Another chorus member disagrees, wondering why Hero would toil in the fields for nothing when he could go to war and maybe be “wrote up in one of them great Histories.” The chorus presses the Oldest Old Man to place his bet, but the Old Man isn’t interested. He and Hero’s wife, Penny, have been searching for Hero’s good-luck charm, a dog called Odd-See. Odd-See ran off after Hero kicked it, which formerly was out of character for Hero.

Hero enters carrying a Confederate army uniform. He asks the chorus to search for his missing dog while he and the Old Man discuss Hero’s decision. If Hero goes to war, Boss-Master has promised him his freedom. If he stays, Hero knows there will be a terrible punishment, possibly death, for his refusal. The Old Man doesn’t think it’s fair that Boss-Master has presented the request as a choice when clearly Hero doesn’t have one. Although freedom has been dangled in front of him “like a beautiful carrot,” Hero can’t stomach the idea of “helping out / On the wrong side.” Hero also can’t trust Boss-Master’s promise. Previously, Boss-Master promised Hero his freedom for betraying his fellow slave, Homer, when Homer tried to run away. Hero revealed Homer’s location and cut off Homer’s foot, but Boss-Master didn’t keep his promise then or later.

Hero’s wife, Penny, arrives and voices her frustration with Hero’s decision. In the early morning hours, before others could plant “their own seeds in [him],” Hero had promised her he would stay. The Old Man tells her to leave Hero alone because “it’s natural for a man to want to go to War.” He encourages Penny to change her mind, calling it “liberating” to do so. Just as the chorus returns, Hero announces that he will stay. The chorus worries that Boss-Master will be so angry that he’ll beat them all. The Old Man encourages Hero to injure himself to garner sympathy from Boss-Master. He suggests cutting off Hero’s foot. Just as the Old Man raises the knife, Homer arrives. Recalling when Hero cut off his foot at Boss-Master’s request, Homer gives the chorus orders, telling them how to prepare for a deluge of blood.

Although Hero has the knife raised, Homer doesn’t think his mind is made up. He tells Hero that he doesn’t have to accept these choices because they’re “nothing more than the same coin / Flipped over and over… And the coin ain’t even in your pocket. #8221; Rather than deciding between going to war or staying home, Hero should create a third option: running away. Angered, Homer says Hero shouldn’t trust anything Boss-Master promises. To the horror of everyone around him, Hero admits what Homer already knew: that Hero was the one who betrayed him to Boss-Master during the failed escape attempt that cost him his foot. Disgusted, the Old Man and the chorus disown Hero, who sullenly decides to join Boss-Master at the war. As he walks away without his dog, Penny vows to wait for his return.

The musician sings about Hero leaving, singing, “Farther and farther, / He’ll be going / Farther and farther down the way / Farther and farther.”

Part 1: A Measure of a Man Analysis

Part 1 sets the groundwork for many of themes that will be explored later in the play. As Hero grapples with the decision of joining Boss-Master as a Confederate soldier or receiving the punishment for refusing an order, the theme of defining freedom emerges. Both the Old Man and Homer question why Hero would remain loyal to Boss-Master after being deceived. Homer goes so far as to compare Hero to the dog Odd-See. These accusations enrage Hero, who threatens to cut off Homer’s head. Clearly, Hero feels deep anger, which Homer’s words suggest is misplaced: Hero should be angry with Boss-Master for enslaving him. In this way, the comparison to Odd-See highlights the dehumanization of slavery. It seems that Hero has internalized his objectification and views himself as less than a man. When Hero decides to join Boss-Master in Part 1, he describes his action as trotting beside him, evoking a faithful dog.

Because Boss-Master requests rather than orders that Hero join him in battle, Hero feels as if he has freedom of choice. He’s choosing between two terrible options—joining the Confederacy or being severely beaten—but he has a choice. Homer, on the other hand, argues that as long as he’s choosing between two options presented by the man who enslaves him, Hero can never be free. He suggests a third option: that Hero run north to freedom from slavery. Homer’s suggestion is one of dissent: in order to be free, Hero must embrace a future of his own choosing, not one dictated by an unjust authority.

Finally, Hero’s emotional turmoil is underscored by the song “Dark Is the Night” at the play’s opening. Lyrically, the song sets the stage by conjuring early morning darkness. It also foreshadows the emotional darkness shrouding Hero as he leaves for war. In addition to being a groundbreaking playwright, Parks is an accomplished musician. In an interview with the American Conservatory Theatre, Parks compared her life to a piece of music in which the chorus was her military officer father “going away to war and coming back” repeatedly. Audiences can feel Parks’ strong connection to jazz, both in the format of the play and the music she composed for it. One of her signature language techniques that can be heard in the play is “rep & rev” (repetition and revision), a technique rooted in jazz music. She plays with ideas and words through repetition, changing them each time.