Silver Donkey - Exposition

Just as Fabrice said, the lieutenant was a liar, nothing about his brother was true, it was used to prevent the soldier from the horrors of war and an excuse for him to return home.
Firstly, the lieutenant would have returned the silver donkey to his brother, like he wished but instead he gave it Coco. This leads us to wonder, does he even have a brother? The lieutenant was going to return the silver donkey to his brother and yet he gave it to Coco on pg 191. ‘Fast as a rabbit, she began to dig…Coco snatched it up…. The little donkey shone back at her.’ So what does he have to return to his brother? Nothing. This evidence clearly shows his brother was fake, he had no excuse to return to his brother.
Secondly, the soldier was extremely was foolish and selfish because his plan for when he arrived home was to have a hot, soapy shower and he kept on mentioning about how his going to be all clean and had forgotten to mention about his brother. Like it is said on page 154, ‘have a bath… soap my hair into a big white ball… trim my toes and brush my teeth.’ It was not until Coco, who asked (on pg155) ‘What about your brother John?... Will you tell him that you’ve come home now. So he can stop crying at night?’This also explains that his brother is phony as he forgot him and needed Coco to remind him and ask. How could you forget, what you’ve come all this way for and an important sibling?
Lastly, he was the leader of the troops and he left them behind to die and didn’t even turn back for a last glance which is all true! Pg113 says ‘he might yet have stopped, but he didn’t- he kept walking….no one noticed he’d gone.’ This evidence states his selfishness costed many lives, those lives he was in charge of. In the end this clearly shows he is a very selfish person and that he made his brother up out of his actions in order cover for himself to get home.
In conclusion, the soldier was definitely lying about his brother as his brother had evidently found the silver donkey and wanted it returned but no, he gave it to Coco. If his brother was so important that he had to come all the way home for him, then how did he forget him and had given it to Coco? The lieutenant was an extremely foolish and selfish man.