Heroes In Thomas Dyja's Play For A Kingdom

Thomas Dyja’s novel “Play for a Kingdom” is a story about the value of men and what it means to be thrown into the darkness of war only to be rescued by the men they call brothers in arms. They are men like every other man who has walked this earth. They have different religions, values, ideas and most of all in their differences they find common ground. Men such as Tiger, Lyman, Newt, and Burridge are heroes, cowards and villains. They demonstrate and bring both good and evil into this world and their own lives. They are the heroes who save the day and fight with bravery. Some become heroes because they gave their lives to the cause and cut down in the line of fire. They are the cowards who are not immune to the horrors of war, or the men who simply want to live to see another day. They are also villains. They are the men who pluck life off of this earth with their cannons, bullets and bayonets. To a wife, mother and child these warriors are the villain in their lives.

Young and old each man dreams of being a hero. They leave their lives behind while they dream of glory and victory. The new recruits were hypnotized by the allure of serving for God and Country. Yes they would be heroes when they came home and they would beat the evil villain’s that threaten their homes, families and their way of life. The uniforms gave young men a sense of importance and status. They learned military drills and worked hard. They thought they were prepared in every way to meet the demands of a soldier;

Then they had their first smell of cannon smoke. They heard screaming they’d only heard from a baby. The cramps began. Throats dried up. Bleeding, weeping men ran past and a few of their own joined them. They told themselves they would run into t...

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...ng for his land, fighting for principle. He respected the men that his group had been meeting for a friendly game of baseball. The men in Micah’s group had fought battle after battle against the Brooklyn 14th. They had passed each other in hand to hand combat but spared each other lives to only move on to the next person. How could two sides with so much bloodshed between them happily co-exist in a meadow for a game of baseball? They were the odd men who found common ground. During their last game the Brooklyn 14th knew that they had been set up by their own army but yet still risked their lives to save men from the confederate army. They set out to save their friends. They had formed and shared bonds with these men that they had shared with their own. They were all heroes, cowards and villains but most important they were all still Americans and brothers in arms.