We get the impression throughout the play that Evans looks up to Bamforth. This is, possibly, unsurprising. Evans is simple minded: he can only really concern himself with everyday concepts, and this is all he really wants to. Bamforth, on the other hand, is highly intelligent. He is a ‘Barrack Room Lawyer’, he understands politics and law, and uses them to his advantage. He is almost an older brother to Evans- someone who is to be admired because they do things you couldn’t even think of.
MacLeish is third in command of the group. Recently promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal, he is resented by a number of the men, particularly Bamforth. We get the impression that this is not because Bamforth is jealous, but because he resents MacLeish following the system – MacLeish has got tied up in it, has accepted it. To Bamforth, who continually fights against the system, this is like treason; one of his men has gone over to the other side.
We know that MacLeish has a brother further up towards the front lines, and he is often worried about him. This, really, is the limit of what we know about MacLeish.
Smith is another character about whom we know little. If there is ever a word to describe Smith, it is neutral. There is absolutely nothing particularly interesting about Smith, except the fact that he has of wife, a house, and two children. He is the only character (with the possible exception of Mitchem) who is not an insulted by Bamforth, despite standing up for others when Bamforth has picked on them. We get the impression that Smith is older than the rest of the privates, and that he is almost a father figure to the rest of them.
Whitaker is the youngest and most experienced member of the group, and is evidently treated this way. He is still insecure with the rest of the group, of whom only Smith seems to have any patience with him. He is obviously trying to make a good impression with the officers, but they also have very little patience with his incessant queries about the time or fiddling with the radio. While we do not get the impression from the play text, the dramatisation gives the impression that there is something suspicious about Whitaker, when Bamforth is querying him about his possession of all the Japanese items.
We now returned to our analysis of the themes present in the play, looking particularly at how all the characters respond to the prisoner. We shall begin in the scene where the prisoner first nears the hut. All the characters at this point are quite tense; having to wait against the wall while the prisoner approaches the building. Whitaker is obviously very frightened, as we see when he is ordered to get the radio. The only person it seems is logically thinking about the prisoner is Johnstone. We do not know if this is due to his training as a professional soldier, or his desire to take down the Japanese soldier.
In any case, the next scene is the most interesting. We get the first glimpse into how the characters view the prisoner, when Johnston orders to one of them to kill him. At first, most of the characters are reluctant to do so. Bamforth is the only character willing to kill the prisoner. We have already looked at how Bamforth was raised in a very 'tough' part of London. He probably had to act very much like this in order to survive when he grew up, and the ability to put emotions as a distance and view things in his own way 'it's only the same as carving up a pig' is part of this, much the same as his ability to create a shell around himself, protecting the fragile part of his psyche from hurt. He is capable of seeing the prisoner only as a pig, and can thus kill him. None of the others can do this. Johnston is another case altogether. He actually things of the prisoner as nothing more than an enemy: to him, there is no human.
The character of the prisoner cannot be expressed through language, because he cannot speak English, but it is purposefully demonstrated from his appearance. This is the key to how the other characters react to him - if he was a large, muscular soldier, he would be easy to view as an enemy; rather, he is described as being 'pathetic and almost comic'. He is not someone who fights, not a soldier from out of the movies. He is simply a man - not someone that, seen outside of uniform, would be thought of as a soldier. This quite dramatically tips the balance in favour of the character being seen as a man.
After the prisoner is saved from being killed by Mitchem, there is much more interest in the prisoner from the men. Saved from the task of having to kill him, they can now express their true curiosity. This is most of their first encounter with the enemy, their first chance to see why they are actually fighting. Their initial reactions, the comment of 'he's not exactly a handsome bloke' symbolises the probable confusions of the men at the appearance of the prisoner. This is the enemy, the opposition. The fact that it is also a man, much like themselves, comes a bit of a shock to most of the men of the patrol.
For the purposes of brevity, we shall skip the majority of the intervening text, which tells us little about the themes of the play, and instead focus only on a number of key stages in the play. The first of these is shortly after their capture the prisoner, and focuses mainly on Bamforth and the prisoner. While we have previously commented that Bamforth seemed not to be surprised at the prisoners appearance; perhaps applying his disrespect for the army to the other side, realising that perhaps they are as unorganised as the English side, he does seem slightly surprised that the prisoner does as he asks. Perhaps this is another clue to the complexity of Bamforth's mind: he creates such a shell around himself, such a controlled personality, that he deceives himself as well. He knows that, really, the enemy cannot be what they are made out to be, but they cannot be any more organised or determined than the English army, but perhaps he doesn't really believe it.
Bamforth, after his initial surprise at the prisoner, seems to treat him like a pet or a toy. This was my initial reaction to the theme of human dignity; that it referred to the lack of the prisoner’s dignity.
The next real development in the play, as related to the theme of human dignity, occurs later into act two. While not actively developing the theme, it does give us a good insight into the actual thought that drives the actions in the play. A dialogue between a Mitchem and MacLeish, it explores the feelings of the men towards the Japanese prisoner. The contrast between Mitchem, who in his role as a professional soldier, has to take the view of the prisoner being in enemy, and MacLeish, so far the most moral of the group, gives us the two sides of the argument that forms the crux of the play. Mitchem gives the prisoner a drink, opening up a conversation about the prisoner. Macleish's opening comment 'he doesn't seem a bad sort of bloke' symbolises the slight surprise of the men to the prisoner. Mitchem's response of 'what did you expect?' shows his side of the conversation. He is slightly bemused by the men's reaction to the prisoner. He knows that the prisoner, and indeed the Japanese, are no more organised or positive about the wall as the British: in fact he comments on it later in the text 'most of them are nigs like us and don't know why we're here or what it's all in aid of.'
MacLeish is quite dubious about the look of the prisoner, particularly in response to his brother. He is concerned about how the Japanese will treat him, because he has been posted further down in the front lines. He has previously heard that the Japanese are animals, that they treat the prisoners of war 'pretty rough', in Mitchem words. However, in light of the prisoner, he is reconsidering his opinions. Mitchem, however, is more sceptical. Knowing that the Japanese are not what they are made out to be, they are still the enemy, and MacLeish thinking then there are men will not help him; 'You gotta bloke between your sights and you stop to wonder if he's got a family, Jock, your family's not got you.' is the perfect response. War is so much easier if you can see the enemy as not the man but as an object. MacLeish is having great problems doing this; he sees killing the man only as murder. Mitchem sums it up very eloquently as he talks about 'Fearless Mac MacLeish'. Most of War is not black or white, but grey. According to Mitchem, sooner or later MacLeish will grow up and realise this.
Shortly after this comes the last made incident before the end. All the characters are now awake, although Bamforth is outside: this turns out to be necessary to the scene, as we shall see later. The scene revolves around the fact that the prisoner has a number of British army issue cigarettes. The group changes sides almost immediately, from being ambivalent, almost jovial, to being openly hostile. It is almost as if they were looking for some reason to once again see him as the enemy. This grey area, where the enemy is a man with a family is disturbing and uncomfortable. This is gives them an excuse to make it all simple again - to see the enemy as evil. MacLeish, previously a champion of the prisoner’s rights as a POW, now immediately turns on him. Even Mitchem seems to turn against the prisoner: although we know that he understands the nature of war, he does not like it, and this is as good an excuse for him as for any one else.
The situation carries on until Bamforth returns to the hut. This is when we see why he gets his nickname as the 'Barrack room lawyer'. Once he enters, he easily dominates the scene. Easily shredding the arguments of the other squad members, he leaves all of them feeling stupid and unhappy with themselves. He for himself is unhappy at how they have treated the prisoner, and angry at the arrogance of the men. Even Mitchem, so far the only member of the squad to appear on a par with Bamforth, is seemingly overwhelmed in this scene.
However, this is not the end of the argument. Johnston, still not liking the prisoner, picks up another threat about the case the prisoner has got the cigarettes in. Checking first that Bamforth has not given the case to the prisoner, he then accuses the prisoner of stealing the case from the soldiers up country. Both MacLeish and Evans again take up their hostility for the prisoner - slowly this time, aware of being wrong last time, but definitely, as if wanting to prove Bamforth wrong. Bamforth, however, still angry about the previous accusations, is not ready to allow this. Again, even when he could be wrong, he is able to beat down the arguments of the other members. We get the impression that Bamforth is highly intelligent, and this is perhaps why Mitchem appears to tolerate his insubordination to such a great degree.
Again, this characterises the theme of human dignity in the play. MacLeish and Evans show the side wanting to think of the prisoner as the enemy, not a human, and Bamforth is the character seeing him as a man: a human being. Interestingly, it is not Johnstone putting forward the former side. This is likely because we could not sympathise with Johnstone's argument. He is not in conflict with concern about the prisoner: he has no problems dealing with moral issues here; the others, however, can display this conflict very effectively.
As a final note to the segment, we look at the end of the scene - the group has moved on and has talked about Whittaker's girlfriend, and this conversation has left the group in a very despondent mood. This is perfectly characterised in Bamforth's attempt at lightening the situation with his song. The fact that even Bamforth has to try and lighten the situation - and failing, is testimony to the effect that the situation has had on them. This sets the scene very well for the ending.
The catalyst for the final action is Bamforth offering to give the prisoner a drink. He believes that the prisoner will need a drink to allow him to reach base. Mitchem, of course, knows is not going to be taken back to base, and says that there is no water for the prisoner. In the process Bamforth realises that Mitchem is not planning on taking the prisoner back to base. This is the biggest confrontation in the story; between Mitchem and Bamforth, obviously the cleverest men in the patrol, and the opposing sides of the balance: Mitchem, sees the prisoner as an object in his roll as a professional soldier, whereas Bamforth, with his lack of respect for the army, is able to see him only as a man. Bamforth attempts to rally the rest of the patrol around him, but we see this is to no avail. Whitaker and Evans are out of their depth - they do not know how to react in a situation like this. Their lives there are uncomplicated, simple, and the situation is too much for them. Smith, once more, remains neutral. He will not be bought into the situation on either side. MacLeish does not respond either; his reaction is much like Smith's- he possibly wants to agree with Bamforth, but his will has been ground away by the previous events - he cannot bring himself to do anything.
This is the crux of the story, the place where the duplicity of the theme of human dignity is fully revealed, in the way that all the characters have lost whatever face they first put on to the others; they have been ground down and worn away until they have no barriers, morals, anymore. Perhaps the point of the play is how war will do this to someone- strip them away until they have nothing left. Bamforth is a good example of this- he has built up so many barriers, presents so many facades around himself to survive, and now we see underneath how he is really the most moral of the group- or perhaps the fact that he has built up so many barriers means that the outer ones take the brunt of the effect of the war, leaving the inner ones- his morals- intact. This can be viewed in many ways.
The book ends with a fight between Mitchem, Johnston, and Bamforth. Whitaker, meanwhile, is left to guard the prisoner, and, in the heat of the action, shoots him. This, perhaps, is the biggest symbol in the book about the nature of war. The prisoner is not killed by a hero, or because he fights them; he is killed by a young, inexperienced, and mostly scared soldier, in the heat of the moment. There is no consideration, and it demonstrates how dignity has no place in war. The recent TV programme, 'Band of Brothers' portrays this very effectively - the characters are not heroes, many of them get shot by others who have no idea who they are, and there is general absurdity in the situation. This is exactly the theme portrayed in the book.
Finally, after the noise of the shot, the patrol decides to move out of the hut and attempts to reach the base. We learn of the death of Whitaker, and infer that the rest of the group have suffered similar fates. The book ends with a little irony: Johnstone, the hater of the Japanese, most 'nasty' member of the patrol, is the only one left standing, and is forced to surrender to the Japanese. He is throwing himself into the situation the prisoner was in. We do not know how he gets treated, or what happens to him. In the last line, a bird sings in the treetops. There is no justice, no meaning. Such is the nature of war.
Nicholas Clarke 16/01/2008