FCT CONTEXT ANSWERS

1 (a) (i) : Raina exclaimed “ugh” because ‘The Man’ had just given Raina a description of how cowardly the more experienced soldiers were when engaging in a cavalry charge. He had mentioned that the wounds these soldiers received were not the wounds of engagement with the enemy but because their knees were banging together in their effort to get into the centre of the group so that they would be protected. Raina is disgusted to hear this account of unheroic soldiers.

         (ii) : The “first man” whom Raina and ‘The Man’ are referring to is the leader of Bulgarian cavalry regiment which had attacked the Serb artillery regiment at the battle at Slivnitza. Raina knows that man to be Sergius Saranoff, her fiancé.

        (iii) : Raina does not call the first man a coward. Neither does ‘The Man’ in his account call the first man a coward. The first Man had narrated how like Don Quixote that man led his regiment into the attack of the artillery regiment. However, the man’s horse was attempting to run away. Raina wishes to note that “the first man” was not like the cowardly experienced soldiers whose cowardly behavior ‘The Man’ had just described.

        (iv) : Raina has been convinced after she had been told the account of the battle of Slivnitza by her mother that “the first man” – Sergius, her fiancé was a “hero”. She has heard how Sergius showed great daring in personally leading his regiment in the attack. She also knows that it was because of his daring action that his country gained victory in the battle and in the war.

        (v) : ‘The Man’ had informed Raina that “the first man” had shown himself to be the maddest of all men in leading his cavalry regiment on the suicidal mission against the Serbian artillery regiment. For that action ‘The Man’ had said that “the first man” should be court martialled. He compared the first man to Don Quixote attacking the windmills.

        (vi) : ‘The Man’ compares “the first man” to an operatic tenor, as like a solo singer in an opera, “the first man” led the charge of his regiment from the front, while the rest lagged behind. “the first man” seemed filled with confidence (which ‘The Man’ felt was misplaced) like an operatic tenor singing his piece in an opera.

1 (b) (i) : Nicola likes Louka better because she is “young”. Nicola had just remarked that Louka was Young meaning that she was inexperienced. Luka immediately reminds him of how her youthfulness attracts him.

           (ii) : The “they” Raina refers to are the members of the Petkoff family. She refers to Catherine, Raina and Paul Petkoff in whose home she is a maid.

          (iii) : The family secret we learn later that Raina is referring to is the secret that Raina had hid a Serbian fugitive in her room; not revealed his presence to the Bulgarian forces who had come to the house following a lead that there had been a fugitive who had been seen climbing into the house and that Raina and Catherine and allowed the fugitive to escape from the house.

        (iv) : Nicola tells Louka that he knows some very significant family secrets – he knows secrets of Catherine  which she would be willing to pay him a considerable sum of money to keep them secret from her husband; he knows secrets of Paul Petkoff which if his wife were told of them he would not be left in peace and that he knew secrets about Raina that would break off her engagement with Sergius.

       (v) : Nicola would like Louka to be a totally trusted servant of the family who could be counted upon never to let out the family secrets. This tells us that he is a faithful person who is willing to focus on his job and not use the weaknesses of others to his advantage. However, to Raina this shows he has no spirit and that he has the soul of a servant.

       (vi) : Louka would like to assert herself – in her words, she would like to “defy” the members of the family. It tells us that she is a bold person. It also tells us that she is a modern woman who does not believe that because she does a work of service in this home, she is less equal to the members of the family. However, Nicola thinks that she is foolish and inexperienced to behave in this manner.

'THE MAN' : "THE BRUTE" OR "THE POOR DARLING"

Catherine refers to ‘The Man’ as a “brute” and Raina refers to him as “the poor darling” Explain why each calls him so and explain why they have such different opinions of him.   

Catherine refers to 'The Man' whom she sees sleeping soundly on Raina's bed as "the brute". She calls him a brute for many reasons. 

She calls him a brute because he is dressed in the uniform of a Serbian officer and Catherine is a very patriotic Bulgarian citizen. We know that Catherine is strongly patriotic from her description of Serbs as "wretched" when she was describing their defeat in the battle at Slivnitza. She had also proclaimed the Bulgarians superior to the Serbs, Austrians and Russians when she declared to Raina "The Serbs have Austrian officers who are just as clever as the Russians; but we have beaten them in every battle for all that".

She also calls him a brute as he is filthy and he has even slept with his boots on Raina's lovely bed. We had been given a description of how soiled 'The man' and his uniform were by Shaw. He notes that 'The man' is "in a deplorable plight, bespattered with mud and blood and snow". We have also been told in the stage directions that 'The Man' had laid down on the bed "at full length; lifts his boots into the bed".Catherine, who definitely cared about her daughter so much - giving her a mantle which on a "moderate estimate" was worth "about three times the furniture of the room" would take great exception to her beloved daughter's bed been so dirtied.

Catherine would also have called 'The Man' a "brute" because she was scandalized that a strange man should be sleeping in her unmarried  daughter's bed. Catherine, was not only as scandalized as any mother would have been in the circumstances, but Catherine was also very keen than the arrangement for Raina to be married to Sergius would take place and she did not want any scandal to break that arrangement. She was thus even more enraged on seeing 'The Man' lying on the bed.

Raina, on the other hand had begun to pity 'The Man' more and more and thus she had called him "the poor darling". She calls him "poor" because she pitied him.

She had seen how hungry 'The man' had been as he had "ravenously" "gobbled" up the last three chocolate creams which she had.

He was so nervous that he was easily scared - when Raina cried out in shock at having sat on a revolver, 'The Man' had "shied away like a frightened horse" and he had asked her not to make any sudden movements like snatching the empty box of chocolate creams from him as he was "all nerves" beacuse he had not slept in three days. 

The experience of being on the battle front had so emotionally weakened him that he had told her that she would see him cry if she only scolded him !

She had seen that he was so exhausted that he could hardly stand and keep his eyes open, even when she commanded him to do before calling for her mother to inform her of his presence.

We have thus seen that she feels very sorry for his pathetic condition.

However, Raina also uses the word "darling:" which reveals that her affections for him has also grown. We have already noted that Raina's affections had been obvious when she first said "I'll help you. I'll save you" and she "drags him" towards the window to save him from the first mob who came to the house. But later she expresses her affections even more strongly to him when firing signals another group of pursuers and she says "I'll save you. Oh, how can you be so indifferent! You want me to save you, don't you?".

WHY DOES RAINA GIVE 'THE MAN' REFUGE ?

Raina explains to ‘The Man’ why she will give him refuge. Give her reasons

When Raina had decided for the second time to save 'The Man' and when he had asked her "how is it to be done?" Raina had challenged the man to "trust to our hospitality", that is the hospitality of her mother and herself. She went on to try and make him understand why her mother and herself would give refuge to a soldier from a foreign army - an army with which they were at war.

Her first reason was they were not usual Bulgarian household. They were the family of the Petkoff's, "the richest and best known" family in Bulgaria. 

The second reason was that her father held the "highest command of any Bulgarian" in the Bulgarian army and that he was a Major. In her opinion this added weight to the stature of the Petkoff family as they would be well known and well respected in the Bulgarian nation and no one would doubt the loyalty of the family to the nation.

Thirdly, she points out that they lived in a house which stood out from the rest - it was "the only private house that has two rows of windows", meaning that they had a ground and first floor bungalow. She empathizes that the house has a stairs "inside" the house - meaning that they had very spacious accommodation for the one family. The description emphasizes that their riches enabled them to have a level of comfort not enjoyed by others - they were exceptional !

She goes on to add that they were the only family in the whole of Bulgaria to have a library in their home. She hoped to impress on the man the culture of the family. She stressed this further saying that they were civilized and cultured above the rest of the "ignorant country folk" as they used to visit Bucharest every year for the opera season and that she had spent a whole month in Vienna - Europe's cultural capital.

She said that she learnt that any guest to their house was sacred, from the opera of Ernani.  She told the story of how Ernani, "flying from his foes", took refuge in the castle "of his bitterest enemy" - an old Castilian noble. The nobleman refused to give him up even though they were the bitterest of enemies, because "his guest is sacred to him".  

Raina, thus explains her unusual behavior in giving the man refuge and vouches that her mother and herself would look on any person who sought refuge in their home in the same manner.

While the above reasoning seems far fetched, it is the reason Raina gives at this time. However, she is either not conscious or does not want to admit that she has already been drawn in her affections for the Man and that is the real reason for giving him refuge.

CHOCOLATE CREAM SOLDIER

Raina calls ‘The Man’ a “chocolate cream soldier” Explain why and describe the incident connected with it.

Raina calls 'The Man' - the Serbian soldier (whom we later know to be a Swiss mercenary and whom we still later will learn is named Bluntschli) a "chocolate cream soldier" because of his fondness for chocolates and because he carries chocolates into battle with him rather than cartridges ! However, she gave him the name, when he had given up all hope and had asked her to give the alarm to those outside that there was an enemy soldier in her room. He had made the decision at thought of his having to leave her room and go down the pipe he had climbed. In her pity she had said "Oh, you are a very poor soldier : a chocolate cream soldier!"

The incident regarding the chocolate creams had occurred right after the Russian officer had left her room and the fugitive had not been discovered. Raina had sat on the gun which had been on the ottoman. The Man had admitted to her that the gun was not loaded and that he couldn't load it because he had no cartridges. He explained to Raina that he only carried chocolates into the battle and not cartridges - saying that cartridges were of no use ! The Man had expressed his desire to have some at that time. Raina, though she was shocked at his childishness gave him her last three remaining chocolate creams. 

The name expresses Raina's contempt for him as an unworthy soldier but it also is a term of affection referring to that characteristic in him which drew feelings of, firstly pity but later love for him.

WK BK PGS 80 TO 82

19 (i) : 'The Man' who had taken and been given refuge in raina's room had spoken these words (we have learnt that he is a Swiss mercenary and later we come to know that he is named Bluntschli).
        He is describing the manner in which the leader of the Bulgarian cavalry regiment led the cavalry charge against the artillery regiment of which 'The man' had been part.
        He is giving the description on Raina's request. 'The man' had been given a very anti-romantic description of a cavalry charge but Raina had not agreed with his description, protesting that she knew the leader was a "hero". The Man had sarcastically remarked that that would have been her comment if she had seen the charge. But Raina had completely missed the sarcasm in his reply and had almost pleaded with him to recount the leader's heroism.

(ii) : "He" refers to the leader of the Bulgarian cavalry regiment who had led his regiment's attack on the Serbian artillery positions at the battle at Slivnitza. The leader's name was Sergius Saranoff, Raina's fiance.
          "He" is described as an operatic tenor, for like a character singing a solo piece at an opera, the leader was alone in front of the rest of his regiment boldly leading his men.

(iii) : 'The Man' describes, in the extract, the personality of the leader of the Bulgarian regiment comparing him to Don Quixote. In so doing , 'The Man' informs us that that leader semed to have lost touch with reality; was chasing after illusion and was a madman - he actually calls him so later in the scene. 'The Man' said his foolishness was comic.

(iv) : "charging like Don Quixote at the windmills" refers to the character in Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra's work The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Manch. In one of the episodes Don Quixote in his disillusionment attacked a windmill believing it to be a giant attacking the poor people. In comparing the leader of the Bulgarian cavalry regiment which had led his troops in an attack against a Serbian artillery regiment at Slivnitza, the Bulgarian leader had shown himself to be as disillusioned at Don Quixote, bot who were leading a futile attack.

(v) : "We" refers to the soldiers of the Serbian artillery regiment who were being attacked by the Bulgarian cavalry regiment led by Sergius at the battle at Slivnitza.
         They laughed at the attacking cavalry regiment because they found it ridiculous that the cavalry regiment should have attacked and the Serbian artillery regiment was sure that they would destroy the attacking Bulgarian cavalry regiment long before it reached them.

(vi) : The dramatic irony in the extract is that this ridiculous attack actually worked and the Bulgarian cavalry regiment did defeat the Serbian artillery regiment, routing them completely as the Serbs could not fire a shot as they had the wrong ammunition and the daring risk taken by the leader of the Bulgarian cavalry regiment resulted in the victory of the Bulgarians over the Serbians and the end of the war.

WK BK PGS 79 TO 80

18 (i) : The "fellow" being talked about in the extract is horse of the cavalry charge at Slivnitza. We know that the leader is Saranoff, Raina's fiance, but at this moment of time, 'The Man' does not know the leader's real identity, except that he is the one who led the Bulgarian cavalry attack on his artillery regiment.

             The place referred to as "there" in the extract is to within firing range of the artillery regiment or the positions of the artillery (enemy) regiment lines.
             "The fellow" will be killed if he reaches "there" because when he comes-to within firing range of the artillery regiment's guns, the guns will be fired and "the fellow"will be the first to be killed in the explosion.

(ii) : "they" who all come are the rest of the men and their horses from the cavalry regiment who follow behind their leader and his horse.
         "they" are in two groups. The first group is the group of young cavalry men who are very enthusiastic and are eager to be engaged in the battle and thus they are described as wild and to be "slashing". The other group is the group of older cavalry men who follow the group of younger cavalry men because they are more experienced in cavalry charges and know that their chances of survival especially that they face in modern times artillery regiments. They would rather not take part in the attack and since they must, they take protection in coming in a group, each attempting to be closer to the inside of the group. In so doing their horses clash with each other and most of their injuries are from broken knees dues to the collision of the horses and not in engagement with the enemy.

(iii) : One can distinguish between the old and the young soldiers in the following ways : the young soldiers are less experienced as to the fate of a cavalry regiment when facing an artillery regiment and in patriotism, zeal and foolhardiness they go into the attack, following their leader making war cries and brandishing their swords. On the other hand, the more experienced older soldiers, knowing their certain fate really do not want to engage in the battle and come at the rear of the group. They attempt to come in a compact group, trying to get into the centre of the group so as to get the protection of bodies around them. In their effort to get into a safe part of their group many of them suffer from broken knees because of the galloping horses colliding with force against each other ! Thus the younger ones get killed engaging the enemy and the older ones suffer the wounds of war trying to protect themselves !

(iv) : The old soldiers consider themselves as mere projectiles as they realise that they are no match for the artillery regiments guns. The know that they will never get anywhere near the artillery regiment positions and that they become mere targets for the guns, sure of being either killed or being made ineffective.

(v) : The knees of the old soldiers get broken in the collision between soldiers and their horses as these older soldiers vie with each other to get into the centre of the tight group to protect themselves from the artillery shells of the opposing army.
         People mistakenly think that these soldiers with broken knees have got their wounds engaging with the enemy in battle.

(vi) : The extract tells us that Bluntschli (The Man)  a professional soldier who fights wars for money, is very skeptical about the patriotism of any soldier who has experience of war. He believes that actual engagement in battle takes away any patriotism a soldier may have and that soldiers who remain in the army, for whatever reason, take primary care of themselves - for example in this case, they do not sacrifice themselves for their comrades, rather they try and get into position where their fellow soldiers shield them from the attack of the enemy. Their lack of enthusiasm is shown in older soldiers bringing up the rear of the attacking force. Bluntschli expresses a totally anti - romantic view of war and soldiers.

WK BK PGS 77 TO 78

17 (i) : According to 'The Man' the funny sight was watching a cavalry charge take place. He is describing to Raina what a cavalry charge looks like and in particular he cavalry charge which took place at the Battle at Slivnitza. He describes what happens in a cavalry charge and he also describes the way the leader of the cavalry charge at Slivnitza behaved.

(ii) : The Man compares a cavalry charge to a handful of peas flung in force.The whole bunch of peas do not come together just as all the horses and the men they carry do not come together. In the cavalry charge at Slivnitza one rider and horse came first. The first horse seemed more eager to run away from the battle rather than to take his rider towards his enemy. The rider had to use force to steer his horse in the direction of the enemy. He was then followed by two or three other riders and then the rest of the cavalry in a tight group.

(iii) : Raina feels ecstatic when The man describes the cavalry charge because Sergius, her fiance and the person whom she so recently was convinced is truly the man for her to marry, was the leader of the cavalry charge. She was so proud of him after hearing the account from her mother of how Sergius had led their country to victory, that she was ecstatic and wanted to hear more about his heroic exploits.

(iv) : The Man describes the leader of the Bulgarian cavalry regiment's charge at Slivnitza as the "poor devil". The man did not know at that moment of time that the man whom he was referring to was Sergius, Raina's fiance.
         The Man refers to him as a "poor devil" as he feels pity for him as this cavalry leader seemed to want to go charging towards the Serbian artillery positions but his horse seemed to want to go in the opposite direction (probably sensing the danger it was in and that it might meet its death rather soon if it did so !) and thus the soldiers on the horse's back had to keep pulling his horse in the desired direction which was requiring quite a lot of effort.

(v) : Raina was thinking of Sergius, who had led that cavalry charge on the Serbian positions in the battle at Slivnitza as "the bravest of the brave".
        Raina refers to Sergius as "the bravest of the brave" as she thought that he was exceptionally brave to have decided to put his life at risk for the sake of his country and to have personally led the assault. In addition, Sergius had risked the wrath of his superiors whose orders not to attack, he had defied !

(vi) : The irony in Raina's statement that the person being referred was the "bravest of the brave" was that it seemed it was only Catherine and Raina who seemed to think so. All professional soldiers, either Serbian or Bulgarian, Austrian or Russian, thought he was the maddest of persons, and had led his regoiment into unjustified danger, for which action he deserved being courtmartialed.