Coup de grâce Coup de grâce A coup de grâce (; French for "blow of mercy") is a death blow to end the suffering of a severely wounded person or animal. It may be a mercy killing of civilians or soldiers, friends or enemies, with or without the sufferer's consent. Examples of "coup de grâce" include shooting the heart or head (typically the back of the skull) of a wounded, but still living, person during an execution or by humanely killing a suffering, mortally wounded soldier, in war, for whom medical aid is not available. In pre-firearms eras the wounded were finished with
The Return of the Soldier two. Amid this pain, Margaret and Jenny contemplate not "curing" Chris and instead letting him just be happy. But Jenny realises Chris will have no dignity if he has no truth and almost simultaneously, Margaret voices a similar thought. The final scene of the book has Jenny watching from the house as Margaret confronts Chris with the truth of Oliver. Impatiently, Kitty wonders what is going on. Jenny recognises, even from a distance, that Chris' whole bearing has changed and he is no longer trapped in his youth. He is a soldier again, or as Kitty exclaims "He's cured!" Jenny's