Forge

Sylvanus’ description of Valley Forge very clearly sets it as a metaphor for the bourgeoning Colonial Army, and the very nature of the American endeavor. It isn’t merely the setting of the story, it is the creation of a new home in the midst of a dangerous and inhospitable wild. The slow, arduous task of surviving in Valley Forge represents the very nature of what it is to become a country.

On numerous occasions in Forge, Curzon will refer to the motion of his inner compass. It’s first mentioned in the early chapters of Part I, after he discovers the compass belonging to the redcoat he helps Eben kill. Finding the compass among the redcoat’s belongings, Curzon recalls a time in his childhood when he’d watch the needles on Judge Bellingham’s compasses and wonder at the invisible forces pulling them. It seemed magical at the time. But now, many hard years later, Curzon finds the magic of these devices is gone.

A compass helps divine a direction, its needle pulled to magnetic north by the invisible fingers of the physical laws which govern the universe. In the beginning of the novel, Curzon isn’t heading towards something, so much as away from it; he is running from