Sunday 28 February 2016

WK BK PG 69 TO 71

13 (i) : It was Raina who had sarcastically when returning The man's revolver to him, asked him to take it and protect himself from her !
            Raina had spoken sarcastically as she sees that the man definitely does not meet her expectations of who a true soldier should be. In this case, when raina had sat on the pistol and had let out a shriek, the Man "shied like a frightened horse to the other side of the room". He comes across to her as a soldier with no courage who is easily frightened and she begins to feel more at ease and not scared of his intrusion of this stranger into her room.

(ii) : The man says that the revolver is of no use to him because it is not loaded and that he has no ammunition for it. He did not seem to have any use for it even when he was in a combat role as even then he didn't carry ammunition to use it but only chocolate !
         Earlier in the play when he had entered Raina's room, he had threatened Raina with the revolver warning her that if she gave his presence away he would fire the revolver and shoot her ! In so doing he bought himself some relief and a hiding place from the pursuing Bulgarian mob and soldiers.

(iii) : The man says that he prefers to carry chocolates instead of ammunition into the battlefield because he (surprisingly for a soldier) does not see the use of ammunition when at war. To him chocolates are more useful. I presume he means that when it comes to saving oneself, keeping oneself from starving on the battlefield is a priority for him. It seems that more experienced soldiers know that one can die more surely of starvation than being killed by the enemy on a battlefield !
         His explanation tells us that at war the soldier's basic needs are often not met and that soldiers had better look out for themselves at least as much as they look to perform their duty on the battlefield. In fact, according to him, more experienced soldiers ensure that they carry enough food int battle rather than enough ammunition, leaving it to the younger soldiers to carry that for them !

(iv) : Raina calls the Man a school boy for filling his pockets with chocolates, which to her is a very childish thing to do and totally soldierly like. In so doing, Raina shows her disgust for him for being so soldierly like,
         It tells us that Raina is a realist - she cannot understand how a soldier can carry out his duty if he does not carry ammunition and does not feel that carrying ammunition into war is of any use. However, Raina is being shocked by the man into realizing that there is an unromantic side to war, where soldiers are hungry and often go without food and that soldiers also need to realistically look after their own well being.

(v) : Raina's ideals of manhood have been developed by her upbringing in her family. She has been given to understand that any man of any real worth must be a soldier (as her father and fiance are). She is also been educated to believe that true soldiers are patriotic and self sacrificing and chivalrous - thus she and her mother are full of praise of Sergius whose action in battel has been portrayed so heroically by Catherine.
        Raina gets offended as it is absurd to her that there could be any true soldier who is not patriotic and not fired by a zeal to kill his enemies (and thus goes into battle fully prepared to meet and crush his enemy - with guns, ammunition, etc.). She is offended because if she were to accept what the man was telling her about soldiers, she might have to rethink the pride she has in her father being a major in the army and her fiance being the hero of the war !.

(vi) : I agree that the man is a realist but I believe that he is overstating the behaviour of soldiers. to emphasize that war and soldiership is not the romantic dream which Raina seems to have . I agree that soldiers to face the situation when food supplies cannot get to them because of heavy fighting and that because such circumstances are so common, soldiers to carry chocolate. But he overstates the case by saying that they carry no ammunition and that ammunition is of no use.
        Raina has romantic notions of war and soldiers. The man does shock her by revealing to her that there are sides to war - like soldiers facing starvation on the battlefield which she has to get to acknowledge. But Raina is so "outraged" because she as yet needs to understand that the man is exaggerating to make a point.

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