Themes of the book
Survival
Survival was a big part in the book War Horse. Throughout the story, Joey has lost a lot of true caring friends of his. Captain Nicholls got shot by the Germans in a battle. He also had to leave little Emile's farm to go back to the war and pull heavy artillery for the Germans. It was painful work for all the horses. As said by Joey on page 91, "Like all the others, I found every step I took now excruciatingly painful, particularly my forelegs, which were cracking badly from the knee downard, and there was not a horse in the team that was not walking lame. The day Topthorn died there was a battle, and Joey ran all night to survive. Joey was very hurt after that, but he survived the whole war.
friendship
In the book, Jeoy has made a lot of friends since the war has begun. One of them was Captain Nicholls. He was a great man and took care of Joey. Nicholls would draw pictures of Joey, care for him and rode him with pride. After Captain Nicholls death in battle, he was ridden by Tooper Warren. Joey loved him when he groomed him, but did't like when he rode him. As stated on pae 53, "If only he could just groom and care for me and someone eles could ride me." Later after being captured by the Germans, they were cared for by little Emilie and her grandfather. Both Topthorn and Joey loved them very much. She would groom them and wait for the two of them to come home after pulling the ambulance carts for the wounded soldiers.
Bravery
Bravery would be the most important theme in the whole book. If Joey, Albert or any character in the story didn't have bravery, they wouldn't be where they were at the end of the story. Joey needed the heart and bravery to survive all those battles. When Captain Nicholls died on page 46, if Joey would have paniced and gone crazy, he would proably have died in that skirmish. Since he had the bravery of 10 horses, he kept moving foward with Topthorn and his rider on his side and survived to live another day. Also when Topthorn died, 102 and enemy tanks were charging at him, he was brave ran for his life. Joey was cut by barbed wire, bullets were flying at him and bombs were exploding around the whole night, but he was brave enough to get through the battle alive. If you want to know about a very brave horse, you should think of Joey.
courage
The defintion of courage is the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery. The two people that suit that descrition are Joey, Emilie and Albert. Joey as a, young colt, was taken away from his mother. After being taken from Albert becuase of the war, he fought in many battles for the British and the Germans. If Joey didn't have courage, he would have lived his life miserably and would have suffered in the war. Emile, a little girl, has a lot of courage. Her father, mother and brother have all died and the only family she has is her grandfather as said on page 75. She also get very sick in and might not live. She has the courage of 12 men, and to lose her whole family and fight a illness during the war is phenominal.