When they hear the Japanese voice on the radio Whitaker freezes with fear showing how afraid he is at the thought of encountering some Japanese troops. “Sammy, Sammy, come on snap out of it (I know this is wrong correct me.)” Mitchem says to him when he is frozen with fear after that he asks “What’s the range on that thing” and he says under 10 so the group are worried that they may have to encounter with some of the Japanese army.
The tension really starts when the Japanese soldier ends up being captured by the British group and is threatened to be killed. After the struggle where they nearly stab him they decide to keep him and take him back to their army camp and get information out of him. They then have to tell the Jap what they want him to do. “One murmur, Jap, and laughing boy here will slit your guts up to your ears” This shows how scared they would have been to kill a man as Whitaker is at the end where her kills the Japanese man because he stood up. “Oh god, Oh god” He says after he kills him.
Bamforth is big headed and lacks any discipline and respect for those superior. Also at the start of the play he is a bully and isn’t nice to anyone else, only caring for himself, such as when the Japanese soldier comes in and Evans is asked to stab him “What do you think they dish you out with bayonets for? Just opening tins of soup?” And is taunted by the others to do it. “Come on, lad! Don’t stand there tossing up the odds! Just close your eyes and whoof it in!” Towards the end of the play this changes he wants to save the Japanese soldier, he feels sorry for him and puts himself between him and the others when they find the British cigarettes on him. “What’s up? What’s he done to deserve that?” He then stands between the Jap and the soldiers to protect him because he feels that he should, he tries to get the others to stand with him, when he asks Smith he says: “I just take orders, I just plod on.” That’s also why he gave him a cigarette because he felt he needed one when he looks at him getting a cigarette out for himself. Johnno thinks that all of the Japanese soldiers are the same; he shows this by hitting the cigarette out of the Jap’s hand because he thinks that they should kill him. Johnno rips up the soldiers photos to completely destroy his moral, he does this because he thinks that he was looting from British soldiers on the front lines, he also thinks that all of the japs are exactly the same and they should all be killed same as they’re doing to the British, in the play.
Willis hall uses this Japanese man to display and reveal all of the tensions of life in the field even though he says nothing he helps the other characters reveal: Hatred, regret, anger, sorrow and respect. A lot of these are revealed through Bamforth as he is the one who learns to respect the Japanese soldier as a man. “He’s almost human this one.” This is said once he shows his family pictures of his wife and two children; it shows that Bamforth sees him in the same situation as Smith where he has a family at home waiting for them.
Sgt. Mitchem is another catalyst of all of the arguments and tension, he is the one who originally wanted his men to kill the Japanese man when he first entered the hut and was captured “Are you volunteering?” But only up until they realise that he could be used to get information out of. But this is only until they discover how many of the Japanese soldiers have broken through then he tells Johnno that they will have to eventually kill him before they leave because he will slow them down. Mitchem only cares about himself. “As far as I’m concerned, what happens to me is important.” He says this to McLeish when they are waiting to leave in the evening while it’s getting dark. When they are arguing at the time when they’re going to kill the Japanese man he says: “It’s a war. It’s something about the uniform and it’s a different shade to mine.” This shows how he thinks like Johnstone and that he is just an enemy and not a man, so he should be shot. Even though he feels sorry for him, but he says that there is no other way of doing it.
Whitaker is the wimp out of the group, he is bullied by Bamforth, but Smith helps protect him. He is asked questions about his love life and he nervously replies: “I don’t know really. I suppose you’ve got to wait until you’re married, proper. I mean, it spoils it otherwise they say.” This shows the complete boredom that the patrol must have been so they passed the time by asking questions about people, Whitaker was an easy target since he was scared of the others and the war. They also sung to try and keep their moral up and pass the time.
At the end when Johnstone re-enters the hut wounded and hears the radio with Red leader talking on it when he could have warned them about the Japanese he just says: “Get knotted! All of you! You hear? The whole damn lot of you!” This is showing that he really doesn’t care anymore and then he takes a cigarette from the dead Japanese man even though before he says that he would never smoke one so he is being a hypocrite.
Willis Hall makes the tension increase towards the end of the play to build up suspense for the shooting at the end. This makes the audience on the edge of their seats waiting for it then when it happens they think that it should be better for the soldiers and that they should have had a better life in the war fighting for their country.
So all throughout the play Willis Hall conveys the effects of war by using tension, teaming up, and Japanese soldier, bullying and bringing their homes back into the play. These cause conflicts and rivalries between the British soldiers causing the tension to increase and making the play more exciting and believable to the audience.
