Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in My Boy Jack, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Bravery, Duty, and Honor
Parental Expectations
Patriotism and the British Empire
Loss and Resilience
Summary
Analysis
Jack and Rudyard go to the Army Medical Board, where they meet with an army doctor named Major Sparks and another official, Colonel Pottle. Both Sparks and Pottle are eager to talk to Rudyard, since they’re both big fans of his writing. Pottle starts talking to Rudyard about cars, impressed that Rudyard drives a Rolls Royce. But Rudyard cuts him off, reminding him that they’re here for Jack. Major Sparks jumps to action, telling Jack to strip to his underwear. As the three men turn their backs and wait for Jack to do this, Rudyard happily picks up his conversation with Pottle, telling him about the exact model of Rolls Royce that he drives.
This scene explores Rudyard Kipling’s fame. Because he’s a well-known author, it’s unsurprising that people are eager to talk to him. To his credit, though, he actively tries to avoid overshadowing Jack, wanting Sparks and Pottle to focus their attention on Jack. This suggests that Rudyard truly cares about his son; he’s not a selfish father who would rather talk about himself than pay attention to Jack. At the same time, though, the whole reason they’re meeting with Sparks and Pottle in the first place is so Jack can join the army, which is what Rudyard wants. This scene therefore highlights the complexity of Rudyard’s style of parenting: he has very high expectations for how Jack should live his life, but this is partly because he genuinely wants what’s best for him.
Themes
As Rudyard and Pottle talk about cars, Sparks examines Jack. But soon he joins the conversation, noting that his own son wants a motorcycle. He adds that his son also loved reading Rudyard’s book, The Jungle Book, at which point Rudyard turns the conversation back to Jack, asking how the examination is going. Sparks turns to Jack, asking if he’s read The Jungle Book—he hasn’t. Sparks then asks Rudyard questions about his writing, finally finishing the physical exam and turning to a record player, which he uses to play a recording of over 1,000 soldiers singing Rudyard’s poem “Recessional” to the King of England. He says that he finds this incredibly moving.
Despite Rudyard’s efforts to not overshadow Jack, his fame distracts Sparks and Pottle from focusing on anything but Rudyard and his writing. The record that Sparks plays hints at Rudyard’s devotion to the British Empire, since the poem “Recessional” sings the praises of the Empire but also laments the possibility that British power might someday fade away. This foreshadows ideas Rudyard will express later in the play—ideas about the importance of sustaining the British Empire and fighting off Germany in World War I, largely to ensure that England preserves its influence throughout the world.
Themes
Sparks tells Jack to take his glasses off for a vision test, but Jack quickly notes that his son is wearing a pince-nez, not glasses. Sparks pays no attention to this distinction, instead asking Jack to read the top line of letters on a poster across the room. Jack says nothing for a moment, then admits he can’t see anything. Sparks thinks he’s talking about the smaller letters, but soon realizes that Jack can’t even read the huge font. He suggests that Jack move closer, so Jack walks all the way across the room and stops with his face extremely close to the poster, at which point he reads the letters. Astounded by the severity of Jack’s myopia, Sparks says the army couldn’t possibly accept him.
After all of Rudyard’s points about how a pince-nez will make Jack look more dignified, Sparks doesn’t even register that Jack isn’t wearing regular glasses. Rudyard’s tendency to micromanage Jack’s life is thus for nothing, essentially making things harder for Jack for no good reason. To that end, wearing the pince-nez doesn’t do anything to help Jack pass the eye exam. None of Rudyard’s efforts could have changed the simple fact that Jack has severe myopia (nearsightedness).
Themes
Sparks and Pottle try to explain that there are strict rules about soldiers passing the eye exam. Even so, they were ready to bend the rules out of respect for Rudyard, but Jack’s eyesight is so bad that they couldn’t possibly ignore it. Rudyard insists that Jack can see quite well with his glasses, but Sparks and Pottle point out that he could lose them in battle, in which case he’d be a danger not only to himself, but to his fellow soldiers.
Desperate to convince Sparks and Pottle to let Jack into the army, Rudyard leaves behind his obsession with the pince-nez, eagerly insisting that Jack can see things just fine with his glasses—not his pince-nez. In this moment, he drops the idea of trying to make Jack seem dignified, instead acknowledging that it’s much more practical for a soldier to wear glasses while in battle. Nonetheless, glasses could be lost or damaged on the battlefield. And though Rudyard strongly believes in the idea of responsibility, he ignores the possibility that Jack would put his fellow soldiers in danger if he couldn’t see, revealing that his desire for Jack to join the army outweighs all other considerations. It even suggests that he values Jack’s army enlistment more highly than his safety.
Themes
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Rudyard argues on Jack’s behalf, pressuring Sparks and Pottle to make an exception. When this doesn’t work, Rudyard chastises Sparks and Pottle for their strictness, saying that this is the exact sort of rigidity that England needs to get rid of in order to stand a chance in the oncoming war. Calling Sparks and Pottle “gutless” and “spineless,” he takes his leave, saying that he will be writing to their superiors.
For all of Rudyard’s talk about the importance of serving one’s country, he’s surprisingly harsh to Sparks and Pottle, who are both just carrying out their responsibilities as members of the Army Medical Board. Rather than recognizing that they have a duty to uphold certain standards, he treats them like cowards, ultimately illustrating how badly he wants Jack to join the army—so badly, it seems, that even the most reasonable obstacles enrage him.
Themes
