WK BK ACT 1 NO 25 PG 81 TO 93

Act 1 No 25

(i)                  : ‘The Man’ was disheartened because he has been told by Raina that he has to leave the refuge of her room. ‘The Man’ has explained to Raina that he had got the courage to climb up the pipe to her room in fear but that he cannot go down as heights make him “giddy” ! He prefers that that Raina give out the word that he is in her room – he seems to be more willing to give up than try and escape for his life again.

Raina tells him not be to be disheartened as she is trying to raise his spirits and get him out of her room. She tries to reason with him that going down a pipe is easier than climbing up it. She tries to appeal is self-respect as a soldier.

(ii)                : Raina calls ‘The Man’ “a very poor soldier” as he once again has revealed that he is afraid. The previous time he had told her that he was afraid of dying, but this time he has told her that he is afraid of heights. Raina finds such sentiments in a soldier as pathetic.

Raina calls him a “chocolate cream soldier”, referring to his love for a previous conversation with him in which he revealed his love for chocolates and told her that he took chocolates into war rather than ammunition. He had also wolfed down her three last chocolate creams.

(iii)               : ‘The Man’ if he were to leave the safety of Raina’s room would face capture by the pursuing Bulgarian soldiers and the bold thirsty Bulgarian mob, seeking to kill the fleeing Serbian soldiers in the aftermath of the Bulgarian victory over the Serbs in the battle at Slivnitza.

Raina feels that it takes less courage to climb down a pipe than to face capture as climbing down the pipe would give ‘The Man’ some opportunity to flee from his pursuers but if his pursuers were informed that he was holed up in her room, he would have to defend his life in that confined space and he had said before, he had practically no chance of coming out of that encounter alive.

(iv)              : The Man says that he prefers capture than climbing down the pipe as he says that heights make him “giddy” – that he afraid of heights ! He seems to prefer keeping his mind and defending himself against possible capture.

It suggests that the man has a phobia for heights which would hardly expect in a soldier as soldiers need to be prepared to face the enemy and cover all sorts of terrain in the pursuit of their duties. Thus, this statement makes the man an even more pathetic soldier.

(v)                : The change in the man’s attitude has probably come about because of his extreme fatigue. Slightly later we will be told by him that he has not slept for forty eight hours and so his fatigue and his need for sleep probably prevails on him. However, we need to remember that for all his fatigue ‘The Man’ is playing on Raina’s sympathy for him and hoping to get her to change her mind about sending him away.

(vi)              : When ‘The Man’ drops his head on his hands in the sign of deepest dejection – meaning he seems to have totally given up; his spirit are at the lowest possible point – this sorry sight of this desperate soldier brings out the maternal instinct in Raina.

No, Raina does not have the same instincts for Sergius. Sergius, thus far, has shown himself a hero, bravely challenging his enemy even when the odds are stacked heavily against him. Sergius, thus does not evoke feelings of pity in Raina, but feelings off awe.