Hill is closer in rank to the conscripts than he is to the wing co., his use of language is full of slang and expletives, and this is much similar to the conscripts, Hill “ a kick up the arse you deserve”.
Deformities and Misfits
Pip and Smiler both have a ‘deformity’ that makes them stand out from the other conscripts. Pip stands out because of his upper class accent and superior attitude. However, he uses this to his advantage by capturing the conscripts’ attentions with stories about his father and the upper classes to become their leader. Therefore, Pip’s ‘deformity’ is very successful, unlike Smiler’s.
Smiler is the boy’s nickname. He is called this because of his physical deformity, which he says he was born with. Smiler is unable to defend himself like Pip can. This may be due to the fact that every time he is spoken to, he is reminded of his deformity, which must have devastating effects upon his confidence and morale. The officers are the ones who are mainly responsible for crushing his morale, “You, I said wipe off that smile. I said wipe it off.”
Wing. Co. “You, why are you smiling?”
PO “You, what are you smiling at?”
When Corporal Hill isolates Smiler for the second time, he tells him that his smile is a liability, “Can’t you have an operation or something?” Therefore, Smiler’s deformity is a weakness.
Breaking the Misfits
Both Pip and Smiler are misfits, but Pip chooses to be. He only entered the RAF to spite his father, “My father (an ex-general) is a banker, we hate each other.” This suggests that he will have the same attitude towards the officers and generals that he has towards his father. He also hates his fellow conscripts for obeying each and every order the generals give, “You babies, you eat chips and you take orders.” This tells us that he is rebellious and will try to turn the conscripts against the generals. Yet Pip has chosen to mix with inferiors to make himself look good. Perhaps he does this because he thinks the upper classes rule over the lower classes. He therefore sees the conscripts as targets, which can be easily influenced and made to join sides with him. Consequently, the generals see him as a threat, and believe that if you can’t beat them, join them. Therefore, in order to ‘break’ Pip, the RAF would force him to become an officer. Also, because Pip and the generals come from very similar backgrounds (the upper class), the RAF wanted to avoid severe punishment, such as the punishment given to Smiler in order to break him, Wing C.o.: “I don’t want a legal foot put wrong – I just want him broken in.” However, because Pip is like a king among the lower class people, “Power, isn’t it?… here among the yobs… you could be king. KING.” he will not be broken easily, “I will not be an officer!” Strangely, when he is broken, his power spans over the conscripts and the officers, “Corporal Hill, you won’t touch a single one of them.” In fact, here we see Pip changing Corporal Hill’s orders from the PO right in front of him: PO “Do you hear me, Corporal, this whole hut is under arrest.”
Pip “I suggest, sir, that you don’t touch one of them.”
When Pip is referred to as being King amongst the conscripts, he is like the Wing Commander to the officers, i.e. Pip is the ‘highest ranking conscript’ and the Wing Commander is the highest-ranking officer.
Smiler and Pip both fail the rifle drill – Pip refused to attempt it and Smiler unintentionally clicked the trigger of his rifle. Smiler’s punishment for this was totally out of proportion to his mistake, as the corporals used his dead mother to humiliate him, “Yes, she was.” The attention drawn on to Smiler leaves him open to victimization from the other conscripts. Therefore, he attempts to make them his friends by telling jokes and imitating Corporal Hill, “My name is Corporal Hill, I’m not a happy man.” Unfortunately, this ends with an embarrassing pause, which further crushes his morale. Despite this however, the conscripts are sympathetic towards Smiler in Act II after he runs away but then decides to return. Here, the conscripts achieve a moment of unity and defiance against the RAF by defending him against the PO, “You’ll leave him be!” Therefore, Corporal Hill uses more brutal tactics to break Smiler, but the Wing Commander doesn’t care how he is broken, because Smiler’s family isn’t part of the upper class. Therefore, if a “legal foot” is put wrong, Smiler and his parents will be unable to do anything, unlike with Pip.
Overall, the difference in the way the two are broken, all boils down to money. Those who have it are treated well, but those who don’t are treated brutally.
Superior Figures
The Wing Commander is disapproving, impatient and intolerant. He prefers the concept of efficiency to that of learning and understanding, “A meteor, fully armed, is more important than a library.” He also encourages conflict within his ‘family’ instead of harmony, “We are never at peace. The human being is in a constant state of war and we must be prepared, each against the other.”
Corporal Hill is basically more humane, but seems disadvantaged by his own lack of status, “ a stocky, Northern, collarless man.” Shows his paternal, protective nature to weaker ‘family members’, “These small boys, these two, they’re my boys.” However, his inferior position to the officers makes him feel insecure and over sensitive to criticism, “I will tear and mercilessly scratch the scorching daylights out of anyone who smarts the alec with me.”
The Wing Commander resents his ‘children’ for treating each other humanely, an attribute gained from Corporal Hill, “They don’t even fight seriously – a few loud words, and then they kiss each other’s wounds.“ This embitters and frustrates him into “drinking too much” since his ‘family’ has not lived up to his expectations, “I’d sacrifice a million of them for the grace of a Javelin fighter.”
Corporal Hill is actually closer in rank to the conscripts than he is to the Wing Commander. His use of language, full of slang and expletives is similar to the recruits,
HILL: “A kick up the arse you deserve.”
DODGER: “Stuck in clubs like bleedin’ ferrets.”
The only ‘positive’ comment that the Wing Commander makes, “you have turned out well, as we expected,” is hollow since his ‘children’ are about to ‘leave home’ when he says it. Therefore, the nearest the play comes to a ‘family’ atmosphere is when ‘father’ (Corporal Hill), and ‘sons’ are relaxed together, “Hill’s mouth organ can still be heard. There is a warm atmosphere in this hut.” However, this is very temporary. Hill has superiors to answer to and his lowly position in the RAF hierarchy means he can only kick down.
Wing Commander
The Wing commander is the highest-ranking officer in the play, his attitude can be reflected in this comment “ A meteor, fully armed, is more important than a library.” From the start the wing commander takes the RAF extremely seriously. His introduction is one of much importance as it is a reality check for the conscripts and he is getting them prepared for a word which many conscripts dismay “war”. In this first appearance he already picked out the two who will bother him the most, Pip and Smiler. Almost straight away he spotted the rebellious in Pip, “ There’s insolence in those eyes”. In this next appearance in the play, you can see straight away that the wing commander does not like conscripts, the comment which makes this obvious (as well as the attitude towards them) is, “Undisciplined hooligans!” and he looks down on them for their common background, “look at them…the good old working class of England”.
The wing commander can be described as disapproving, impatient, intolerant. He prefers efficiency to that of learning and understanding, “a meteor, fully armed, is more important than a library.” He encourages conflict within family, not harmony, “we are never at peace. The human being is at a constant state of war and we must be prepared, against each other.” So again his character stands out to be one full of hatred and I feel that due to his rank he has lived through many wars and so his view would have changed. He is now driven to believe in a constant conflict; this has now driven out any peace which was left.
Overall the wing commander is very dedicated to his work and is now dependent on it. He can’t go back to society as he has grown to despise them and now the RAF is his home and his children are his conscripts. His attitude is hatred and he promotes war and now that is all he knows.
