A Man Could Stand Up— · Character

Lieutenant Aranjuez

A dark, tiny, frightened young officer who clings to Tietjens with a child's adoration, calling the empty trenches Pompeii and dreaming of a teashop girl named Nancy Truefitt.

supporting

Also known as Aranjuez, little Aranjuez

First appearance: a man could stand up

As a supporting figure in A Man Could Stand Up—, Lieutenant Aranjuez is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

A very minute subaltern who peers around the bank in an impossible tin hat, briefly interrupting Tietjens and Mckechnie.

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Aranjuez serves under Tietjens in the emptied, over-tidy trenches that feel to him like Pompeii — square-cut, silent, and dead. Frightened out of his life from the first, he has fastened onto Tietjens as a child clings to an omnipotent father, and Tietjens, who needs that worship, lets him. His small flame Nancy Truefitt waits in a teashop at Bailleul, and his fear of losing his eyes — of becoming a man no girl would look at — gives the battalion's abstract war a boy's very particular terror.

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Character Web

14 connections

A slice of how Lieutenant Aranjuez sits in the book — open the reader for the full interactive map.

Relationship types

Romantic
Other

Character groups

Social and Military Elite
Protagonist
Core Protagonist and Soldier

+9 more in the full Character Web

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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book.

Setup
Escalation
Breaking point
Closing

This is the story's dramatic climax because it presents the emotional and psychological peak where Valentine W…

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Relationships

Sylvia Tietjens
romantic · ambivalent
Lieutenant Aranjuez is a suitor of Sylvia's, involved in a flirtatious and possibly… How this plays out →
Sylvia Tietjens
romantic · ambivalent
Lieutenant Aranjuez is a suitor of Sylvia's, involved in a flirtatious and possibly… How this plays out →
Sylvia Tietjens
romantic · ambivalent
Lieutenant Aranjuez is a suitor of Sylvia's, involved in a flirtatious and possibly… How this plays out →

Relationship notes

How these ties play out is in the reading companion — open the free preview.

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In the story

Lieutenant Aranjuez appears across 5 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

II
A very minute subaltern who peers around the bank in an impossible tin hat, briefly interrupting Tietjens and Mckechnie.
IV
A young officer who hero-worships Tietjens, discusses sonnets, and expresses fear about the coming attack.
V
Signalling Officer who knows about buzzers and signals but not about keeping communication between troops in motion.
VI
Sent to B Company to announce Tietjens's inspection; later returns, having lost an eye, and hero-worships Tietjens, asking about his love.
II
Present at the Armistice celebration, blushes and interacts with Valentine.

Chapter companion notes

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