Pascal Dumont 1

Colleen Murphy

Dr. Lisa LaFramboise

ENGL 1706EL02

November 11th, 2022

Armstrong war

In the play Armstrong war by Colleen murphy, the characteristic that Halley, Ms. Wren, Mrs.

Parker and her grandmother all share the ability of being compassionate. Firstly, Halley is a 12

year old pathfinder who is trying to get her community service badge, she is a determined and

humble individual who will “promise to do my best, to be true to myself, to my faith, and to

Canada; I will help others and accept the Guiding law” (Scene two, page 24,)”. This represents

her personality and how the guiding law given to her by Mrs. Parker has helped her understand

her role. Halley has one real friend named Jackie but has relationships with many older women.

The play characterizes female relationships especially between Halley and the librarian Mrs

Parker because the two share similar thoughts and interests. Halley says she might wanna be a

librarian later in her life since she loves books and so does Mrs Parker. They share the same

vision throughout the play for example, in scene four, Halley strongly disagrees with the actions

of Aidan and she even says “Mrs. parker would call that sloppy story writing and it makes Aidan

look completely dishonorable–you don't just kill someone because they lost their legs” (Scene

four, page 60). Halley strongly believes what Mrs. Parker would think as she uses her to her

advantage which shows they are connected in some way. Their relationship is also strongly built

as they have weekly readings with a few other kids and Mrs. Parker gets to share her knowledge

of books and the world with Halley which she enjoys very much. Their relationship is similar as

they have the same beliefs, another example is when Halley says to Micheal, “I think your two
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friends were totally weird and dishonorable. If Mrs. Parker read this story she'd probably say the

same” (Scene four, page 63). I think Halley's relationships with older woman work hand in hand

as they have similar thoughts and older woman like Mrs. Parker gives her confidence in what she

believes. I think the play characterizes female relationships by bringing the characters together

by having similar images and how they are compassionate towards soldiers struggling in

rehabilitation hospitals as they are tasked to read to them and to bring some joy to their lives.