"Gordon whom as a boy he had worshipped; Gordon standing lonely with one leg raised and his arms crossed,- poor Gordon, he thought." (52)
General Charles Gordon was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1852. Gordon's corps of engineers was assigned to strengthen the European trading center of Shanghai. He also became governor of the province of Equatoria in the Sudan. Peter Walsh looked up to this man when he was young because he symbolized the power Britain had. He sees boys march past him, oblivious to death and ready to serve their country like General Gordon did. Peter now sees the flaws and troubles the country has and does not have the same attitude towards the government as he did when he was young. He respects the boys and their dominance of the future and realizes that he is aging. He reflects that he has been a failure in some ways and wonders if he has waisted his life.
~"General Charles Gordon" Historic BBC. September 28, 2008
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