WK BK PGS 84 TO 86

21.(i) Don Quixote is the name chosen by the character (Alonso Quixano) in the Spanish novel by Cervantes who decides to revive chivalry, undo wrongs and bring justice to the world. The name is associated with a person who has lost touch with the reality of the world and lives in a disillusioned manner.
          The speaker is 'The Man' - the Serbian soldier who was fleeing from the Bulgarian army and people and who had sought refuge in Raina's room. He was actually a Swiss mercenary, fighting for the Serbs. Later we learn that his name is Bluntschli. He is referring to the leader of the Bulgarian cavalry regiment who led his regiment in their charge against the Serbian artillery regiment at the battle at Slivnitza. He is referring to Sergius Saranoff.
          'The Man' calls Sergius, Don Quixote as he considers, Sergius' action of leading his cavalry regiment against an artillery regiment suicidal and mad, as the odds in the cavalry regiment succeeding in their attack were absolutely zero.

(ii) : The so-called Don Quixote had in a rush of patriotic zeal and national pride risked his won life and life of his entire regiment in the attack against the Serbian artillery regiment. The risk and daring paid off and the Serbian guns did not fire and the Serbian positions were overcome, their army routed and the Bulgarians won the battle and the war. Thus, the Don Quixote thought he had done the cleverest thing in the world because his foolhardy act surprisingly paid off.
        The action tells us that either the leader who is called Don Quixote was actually very daring and patriotic or he was a fool or a madman.

(iii) : The speaker thinks that the leader of the Bulgarian cavalry regiment which attacked the Serbian artillery regiment should be court-martialled because he had risked the certain death of his entire regiment in an attack which normally should have resulted in all their deaths. An army commander is not expected in normal situations to lead his troops in a suicidal mission.
          The speaker calls the leader of the Bulgarian cavalry regiment the maddest because it was nonsensical to pit a cavalry regiment against an artillery regiment as the artillery regiment would blast them to pieces before they had came any where near to being able to harm the members of the artillery regiment.

(iv) : 'he' and his regiment had defied the orders of their superiors, the leader had led his regiment himself into the charge against an artillery regiment which would certainly kill them much befoe they reached the artillery enemy positions. Thus, as death was certain for them it is called a suicidal mission.
         No actual pistol missed fire. The man who is narrating the events means to say that the Serbian artillery regiment couldn't, as expected, against the advancing cavalry regiment as they had the wrong ammunition for their guns. Thus they could not fire their guns.

(v) : Later on in the play Sergius, the so-called Don Quixote, says that he defeated the Serbs the wrong way, that is not according to military etiquette, when his army commanders were losing the battle by using all the right tactics of war.

(vi): The speaker seems to be a person with the traditional military person's mind. He does not understand that patriotism and daring can win the day. The so-called Don Quixote was daring and patriotic and lucky but if the artillery had fired his regiment would have been wiped out and he would have been proved to be the very maddest person ever set into battle.

WK BK PGS 82 TO 84

20.(i) : 'The Man', the soldier who was being the blue uniform of the Serbian army, who had been in the Serbian artillery regiment which had been defeated by Sergius' cavalry regiment at the battle at Slivnitza. He had sought refuge by climbing a pipe into Raina's room. Raina had just kept him hidden when the Russian officer and the Bulgarian crowd had come in search for him. This is the man who is speaking. Later we come to know that this man is a Swiss mercenary and that his name is Bluntschli.
            He is describing the reason why his artillery regiment had been defeated by the Bulgarian cavalry regiment when the cavalry regiment should have been blown to pieces long before they came anywhere near the artillery regiment.
            He is describing it to Raina, and is trying to explain to her that the leader of the regiment was not a hero but a fool.

(ii) : The sergeant is described to have been "white as a sheet" to try and convey how scared the sergeant was with the knowledge that the artillery regiment which he led was totally defenseless against the artillery regiment and that their death was near.

(iii) : The speaker says that he never felt so sick in all his life because having heard that his artillery regiment had the wrong ammunition and that they were totally defenseless against the approaching cavalry regiment the thought of his near death made him feel sick, like he had never felt in his life before, as he probably had never come so near to his own death.

(iv) : That the speaker had carried only chocolates and no cartridges tells us that the speaker was not very keen on soldiership and more keen in keeping himself well fed. Raina had said previously that such action proved that he was childish, like a school boy. However, it may also show that the man was practical enough to know that in battle one has to be prepared for the unexpected and to take care to live as long as one could.

(v) : By saying "they just cut us to bits", the speaker means to say that they (the Serbian artillery regiment at Slivnitza) was completely defeated "routed" and "scattered".

(vi) : The speaker is called "the chocolate cream soldier" later in play by Raina. He is called a "chocolate cream soldier" because he only carried chocolates into war and not cartridges and he loved chocolates very much, which is proved when he told Raina that he would love to have some and he had greedily eaten the last three chocolate creams which Raina had offered him.