# Lieutenant Aranjuez — A Man Could Stand Up— character guide

> Lieutenant Aranjuez in A Man Could Stand Up— by Ford Madox Ford.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Aranjuez, little Aranjuez

**First appearance:** 0001-a-man-could-stand-up

## Snapshot

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.

## Who they are

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.

## Relationships

### [Sylvia Tietjens](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/characters/sylvia_tietjens)

_romantic_

Lieutenant Aranjuez is a suitor of Sylvia's, involved in a flirtatious and possibly adulterous relationship with her.

### [Sylvia Tietjens](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/characters/sylvia_tietjens)

_romantic_

Lieutenant Aranjuez is a suitor of Sylvia's, involved in a flirtatious and possibly adulterous relationship with her.

### [Sylvia Tietjens](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/characters/sylvia_tietjens)

_romantic_

Lieutenant Aranjuez is a suitor of Sylvia's, involved in a flirtatious and possibly adulterous relationship with her.

## In the story

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/chapters/part-ii-ii)

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

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/chapters/part-ii-iv)

A young officer who hero-worships Tietjens, discusses sonnets, and expresses fear about the coming attack.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/chapters/part-ii-v)

Signalling Officer who knows about buzzers and signals but not about keeping communication between troops in motion.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/chapters/part-ii-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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/chapters/part-iii-ii)

Present at the Armistice celebration, blushes and interacts with Valentine.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/characters/lieutenant_aranjuez
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/characters