BAMFORTH "Flingers on blonce. Dlop Flingers. Get that! He dlops them like a two-year-old!"
He would be really chuffed that the prisoner is taking orders from him, and he would be telling the other members of the patrol, he is quite happy with the authority.
This quotes shows Bamforth bullying the prisoner and telling him to put his hands on his head. Bamforth enjoys bullying people who can not stick up for themselves (i.e Whitaker).
Bamforth discovers the prisoner's wallet. This is the exact moment in which his attitude towards the prisoner begins to change. Bamforth finds a photo of the prisoner's wife and children. He realizes that the prisoner is not what he first seemed. Bamforth begins to see that the enemy actually has feelings too. He finds out that the prisoner has children and compares him to Smith. Bamforth starts to change his thinking about the prisoner and the Japanese when he finds out that the prisoner is human. He is just like everybody Bamforth knows. It is easy for Bamforth to hate what is different and what he does not understand, but when he finds out that the prisoner is not different and he begins to understand him, he begins to like the prisoner. Bamforth says:-
BAMFORTH: "He's almost human this one is!"
This quote shows Bamforth acknowledging that the prisoner is not actually as bad as he previously thought, and that if the cards had been dealt differently, they might have been friends.
Bamforth starts to be friendly towards the prisoner. He gives the prisoner a cigarette, which Johnstone snatches away, initialising a conflict.
We begin to wonder whether giving the prisoner a cigarette was a friendly gesture, or one designed to wind up Johnstone. He may actually like the prisoner, or he may be using him as a tool to cause more hostility.
Later in the play, Bamforth leaves the hut for a while. While he is outside, Johnstone notices that the prisoner has some British cigarettes. Bamforth re-enters, as they are about to assault or even kill the prisoner. He is immediately surprised at the anger towards his new friend:-
BAMFORTH: "What's up? What's he done to ask for that?"
When Bamforth first met the prisoner, he wanted to kill him. Suddenly, Bamforth is defending him.
Bamforth claims that he gave the prisoner the cigarettes that are causing the argument. We do not know whether he really gave the prisoner the cigarettes, or if he is lying to save his new friend, and so that he can insult MacLeish, Whitaker and the other soldiers and cause more arguments. In addition, if he did give the prisoner the cigarettes, did he give them to the prisoner as a friendly or gesture, or did he do it to deliberately disobey Johnstone, and his orders.
This part of the play shows significant change on Bamforth's part. At the start of the play, he disliked the Japanese and cared only for himself. If others were in trouble, that was there fault and did not concern him. He tried to look tough by not caring. Now, for the first time we see a more emotional side to Bamforth. He is angry and upset at what the others have done to 'Tojo boy'
BAMFORTH: "You had to rip his pictures up. You couldn't even leave him them."
This quote shows him angry at the fact that the prisoner's pictures have been ripped up. For once, Bamforth is sticking up for somebody else. Does he really like the prisoner, though, or is he just using him to have a go at people.
When the others think that the prisoner was looting, and stole the cigarette case, Bamforth still defends the prisoner. He then uses this to attack Whitaker again:-
BAMFORTH: "The terror of the Newcastle Church Army Hostel: Private Winnie Whitaker."
This quote is part of Bamforth constantly bullying Whitaker, because of some stolen goods he owned. This starts to make us believe that Bamforth may be using the prisoner to attack and embarrass Whitaker, and that he may not like the prisoner as a person all that much.
If Bamforth does actually like the prisoner, why does he like him above everybody else? Every other member of the patrol is human, and have girlfriends and a family, so why is the prisoner different. He is the only person who does not get annoyed with Bamforth. Everyone else tells him to shut up, or fights back, becoming involved in an argument with him. The prisoner cannot fight back. Perhaps this is why Bamforth likes him.
Every argument Bamforth is involved in during Act Two involves the prisoner in some way. The next conflict is over Mitchem's decision to give the prisoner no more water. Bamforth offers to give up some of his water to help the prisoner, which may have been essential for his survival, to help the Japanese prisoner. This is obviously a friendly gesture towards the prisoner. He says:-
BAMFORTH: "He gets half of mine."
Bamforth is willing to give up half of his water for the prisoner, which may have ended up killing, Bamforth. This once again shows a human side to Bamforth we did not see earlier in the play.
Then Mitchem announces that the prisoner will have to die. Ironically, Bamforth is the only person who sticks up for him. Everyone else is apathetical.
This shows a dramatic change in Bamforth's character, and in his attitude towards the prisoner. At first, he was willing to kill the prisoner. At first, he was willing to kill the prisoner. Now Bamforth realizes that the prisoner is not so bad after all. Bamforth says in the prisoner's defence:-
BAMFORTH: "He's a man!"
After all that has happened, he is the only member of the patrol to admit that the prisoner is also a man.
This shows us that the prisoner has gone from being nothing more than a pig to a man. Bamforth's attitude to the prisoner and the Japanese has obviously changed.
However, other parts of Bamforth have not changed. He still uses the same aggressive, undiplomatic, argumentative techniques to try to convince people of his point of view:-
BAMFORTH: "Jock! Jock! MacLeish! I hope they carve your brother up. Get that! I hope they carve your bloody brother up."
Here Bamforth tries to bully MacLeish into supporting him and it does not work. This is where being mean to everyone earlier in the play comes back to haunt him. He is an outsider. No one is helping him, so he acts aggressively.
Even though he is clearly doing something noble, we have to wonder whether Bamforth has developed a conscience, and is defending the prisoner because he thinks it is the right thing to do, or if he is doing it to challenge the authority of Mitchem and to be able to get at the other members of the patrol. Does he want to start another argument and a fight?:-
MITCHEM: "Get to one side. That's an order."
BAMFORTH: "Stick it."
This shows him arguing again, challenging Mitchem's authority. Eventually there is a fight and the prisoner is shot. This allows Bamforth to get at Whitaker once again:-
BAMFORTH: "You've got the biggest souvenir of them all. You've done it this time Whitaker. Take that and hang it on the front room wall."
Again, here, Bamforth is trying to get at Whitaker. This is his last action in the play. It shows another part of Bamforth that has not changed. He still likes to get at Whitaker.
In conclusion, at the beginning of the play Bamforth is an arrogant, aggressive character, that only cares about himself. He dislikes everything that is different. Welsh people, Scottish people and the Japanese. He is deeply cynical about the army and he challenges its authority at every opportunity.
When he first meets the Japanese prisoner, he is the only private willing to kill the prisoner and he treats the prisoner like a circus animal. After he sees the prisoner's photos, he realizes that the prisoner is a human. After that, Bamforth is friendly towards the prisoner. Bamforth shares his cigarettes with him and offers him food and water. By the end of the play, Bamforth is the only member of the patrol willing to defend the prisoner's life.
This shows dramatic change in Bamforth from the start of the play. He sticks up for somebody else, somebody who he does not know. His attitude to the Japanese has changed entirely. He has become a friend to one, and is being nice to him.
However, Bamforth does not totally change. His attitude towards the prisoner changes, but his general character does not. Right at the very end of the play, he is still insulting Whitaker, rather then trying to help everyone escape from the Japanese. Instead of using reason and convincing speeches, which he may be capable of, to try and stop people killing the prisoner, he is rude and aggressive, just like he is at the start of the play. He still does not have any friends inside the group and he still challenges authority. This disrespect is clear near the end of Act Two, where Bamforth has a scuffle with Mitchem over the prisoner.
Overall, Bamforth has changed in some ways, but in others, he remains exactly the same Bamforth as he was at the beginning.
By Hasan Ehsan 10BL