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
It’s 1917, two years after Jack first went missing. He has yet to be found, but Carrie and Rudyard have spent the years interviewing Irish Guardsmen to find out what happened to him. Carrie has an extensive filing system containing notes from all the interviews. Rudyard is also writing a book about the Irish Guards, but the main purpose of all this research is to piece together whether Jack is dead. Rudyard is exhausted from the whole ordeal, whereas Carrie works tirelessly to find information about her son. Bursting into the drawing room, she excitedly makes a connection between one interview and another, saying that they now have overlapping accounts suggesting that Jack was seen near “Chalk Pit Wood.”
Rudyard and Carrie’s desperate search for Jack shows how difficult it is to lack emotional closure after losing a loved one. It’s unclear whether or not Jack died in battle, but the fact that he has been missing for two years makes it quite unlikely that he’s still alive and well—even if he didn’t die when he originally went missing, he would have had to stay out of harm’s way in the ensuing two years. Nonetheless, Carrie and Rudyard naturally want to find out what happened to him, since this would at least make it easier to cope with their loss.
Themes
Rudyard doesn’t share Carrie’s enthusiasm, not wanting to dive into the files at that moment to confirm a tenuous connection between two interviews. Elsie—who comes in to announce that another interviewee has arrived—agrees with her father, trying to get Carrie to save the matter for later. This annoys Carrie, who accuses Rudyard of not caring about the project. Her comment frustrates Rudyard, who says he has fully devoted himself to finding Jack, pausing his entire career to gather information.
The tension between Rudyard and Carrie appears to have worsened in the last two years, as they struggle with Jack’s disappearance in different ways. Carrie never wanted their son to go to war in the first place, so it’s understandably difficult for her to accept that he may have died as a result of joining the army. Rudyard, on the other hand, actively wanted Jack to enlist. Their disagreement underscores their entire relational dynamic, as Carrie clearly resents Rudyard for pushing Jack toward the military—a resentment that comes out in her accusations about how he isn’t trying hard enough to find Jack.
Themes
After Elsie goes to fetch the visitor, Rudyard throws the files on the ground and angrily looks for a cigarette. Discovering that Carrie has thrown them out because she doesn’t want him smoking, he has an idea: he goes to the place Jack used to hide cigarettes and takes out the pack. He and Carrie sit on the floor amongst the scattered papers, both of them feeling sadness sweep over them at the memory of young Jack stashing away these cigarettes—cigarettes that taste awful, having dried out over the years.
Jack’s cigarettes serve as a reminder of how young he was before he went off to war. He was just a teenager who was afraid of his parents catching him with cigarettes, which is why he hid them in the first place. The fact that they’ve gone stale only adds to the sadness of this moment, as if Jack’s youthfulness has slipped away forever.
Themes
Elsie brings in the guest, whose name is Mr. Frankland. He makes small talk, noting that he’s a fan of Rudyard’s writing and repeatedly asking if he should come back at a better time, since the files are still scattered throughout the room and the air is tense with conflict. But Rudyard assures him that now is fine, so Frankland says that he brought a friend from the Irish Guards. They had neighboring beds in a hospital during the war. Frankland lent him one of Rudyard’s books and learned that his friend knew Jack. Carrie quickly asks if Jack is alive, but Frankland thinks it’d be better if his friend explained, so he goes to fetch him.
Mr. Frankland’s arrival is a slight ray of hope, at least for Carrie, who’s so eager for information about Jack. Living with such uncertainty, it seems, is one of the hardest parts of having a loved one go missing in action. The fact that Frankland has brought someone who knew Jack is therefore a big deal for Carrie, even though the guest’s visit probably won’t bring her son back home.
Themes
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Frankland escorts Bowe into the room. Bowe is in a bad state, hyperventilating and speaking nonsense, insisting that poisonous gas is filling the room. He says he needs his gasmask, clearly thinking he’s in battle. Frankland tries to calm him down, and Elsie brings him a glass of water. He starts reciting the names of other Irish Guards, then explains—almost incoherently—that eight of them made it to the woods across the battlefield. One of them, he says, was his lieutenant, but he doesn’t say the lieutenant’s name. Pausing, he hears (real) explosions coming from the Battle of Passchendaele, which Rudyard explains is 100 miles away.
Rudyard and Carrie have spent the last two years interviewing Irish Guards, but they haven’t made much progress. Now, though, they might finally find out what happened to Jack, since Bowe was with him when he was last seen. And yet, Bowe is deeply scarred by the war—so traumatized that it’s unclear if he’s in the right state of mind to deliver reliable information. His apparent trauma challenges Rudyard’s romanticized ideas about what it means to be a soldier, indicating that it’s not as glorious as Rudyard would like to think. The Battle of Passchendaele, fought in Belgium, was one of the worst battles on the Western Front—even those on the home front in England couldn’t ignore the sounds of the distant fighting.
Themes
Bowe slowly comes to his senses and explains that Jack was his lieutenant. Jack always used to look after Bowe’s feet, making sure he wasn’t developing trench foot. He was a very kind platoon commander, Bowe says. On the day in question—which Rudyard identifies as the Battle of Loos—Bowe and McHugh ended up lying in a “shell hole” for a long time with another dead soldier. Bowe stops telling his story and says he didn’t want to come to the Kiplings’ house. He doesn’t like talking about this. But Rudyard tells him the family has been interviewing Irish Guards every day and that he’s the first person who was actually with Jack on the day of his disappearance. Any information he has—one way or the other—would bring closure to the family.
Rudyard believes in facing emotional hardship head on, so it makes sense that he wants to know what happened to Jack, even if this means finally discovering that he was killed. His approach confirms that the uncertainty surrounding what happened to Jack is one of the hardest things to bear, since it keeps both Rudyard and Carrie from gaining any kind of emotional closure and coming to terms with their loss.
Themes
After a moment of silence, Bowe explains what it was like to run out onto the battlefield. Doyle was shot and killed, but Bowe made it to the other side, jumping into the enemy trench and landing on a dead German, whose gasmask he stole just as poisonous gas crept along the ground. He then found other Irish Guards and ran with them through the trenches. Jack was one of these men.
Again, it seems as if Bowe’s story about what happened on the day of Jack’s disappearance will finally give the Kipling family some emotional closure. On a broader level, his description of that day shows the brutality of war, which, in turn, challenges Rudyard’s romanticized ideas about the life of a soldier.
Themes
Bowe says he wasn’t afraid while all of this happened. He was frightened before and after, but in the moment, he felt nothing. Rudyard jumps in at this moment, asking if he felt “uplifted” or “excited” at any point during the attack, but Bowe reiterates that he didn’t feel anything at all. Rudyard then clarifies that Jack made it to the other side with Bowe, and when Bowe confirms this, Rudyard asks if Jack seemed “excited.” Or, he wonders, was he “nervous”? Bowe says he seemed fine, but Rudyard pushes on, wanting to know if his son seemed “pleased to be there.” Bowe notes that nobody was pleased to be at war. Jack was just fine, telling the men to push on. This idea—of Jack urging his men onward—pleases Rudyard.
Even as Bowe narrates the story of what happened to Jack, Rudyard romanticizes the idea of his son behaving courageously in battle. This just slows down Bowe’s story, delaying the information about what became of Jack. And yet, Rudyard can’t help but hope that his son was “excited” to be at war. In and of itself, this shows Rudyard’s unrealistic outlook on the nature of war, which Bowe knows is simply frightening—not the kind of thing someone would ever be “pleased” to participate in, no matter how idealistic they might be. But Rudyard seems desperate to hang onto at least a scrap of his idealism, even as he's faced with the news of Jack’s likely death.
Themes
McHugh didn’t want to keep going, despite Jack’s orders. But Jack said that the men had to push through the woods and overtake the second line of enemy trenches. The trees were on fire, but then the rain extinguished the flames and Bowe could see all the way through the woods—he and the other soldiers were looking straight at a huge machine-gun post, with guns perched on raised platforms to easily pick off enemies. Jack told the men to charge toward it, but McHugh thought this was crazy, yelling that Jack would be a murderer to force them toward certain death. Jack, however, said that they had no choice.
This part of Bowe’s story suggests that Jack took many of his father’s ideas about duty and bravery to heart. Even though attacking the machine-gun post was wildly dangerous, he told his men that they simply had to do it. In this way, he prioritized his responsibility as a lieutenant over his own life, making the exact kind of sacrifice that Rudyard always talks about with such awe and appreciation.
Themes
Bowe explains that Jack blew a whistle and the remaining Irish Guards pulled themselves out of the trenches. But then Bowe was somehow lying in the bottom of a hole with a body next to him. He looked up and saw Jack near the hole with the entire lower half of his face blown off. He was still alive, and Bowe wanted to help him, but McHugh jumped into the hole and told Bowe to run. Bowe tried to get him to help Jack, but McHugh refused, darting off the way he came.
Unlike Jack, McHugh didn’t care about his duties as a soldier. He knew that helping Jack would mean putting himself in further danger, and instead of accepting this fate in the name of responsibility and sacrifice, he ran. His actions thus stand in direct opposition to pretty much all of Rudyard’s ideas about valor and duty—ideas that he clearly passed along to Jack, who ultimately suffered as a result of his unyielding courage (as evidenced by the fact that half his face was blown off).
Themes
Jack was crying in pain, Bowe says. And though Bowe wanted to help, he didn’t want to “humiliate” his lieutenant by going to his aid while he cried. It wouldn’t have been “dignified” for Jack to cry while a lower-ranking soldier helped him. So, Bowe ran away.
Bowe’s reason for not helping Jack seems like a weak excuse. And yet, the implication is that it’s dishonorable for a well-respected soldier to show pain. Oddly enough, this aligns with Rudyard’s ideas about maintaining composure and showing strength in moments of hardship. In a way, then, Bowe’s excuse throws Rudyard’s worldview into question—after all, Jack showed both great courage and “undignified” weakness within moments of each other, suggesting that honor isn’t as clear-cut as Rudyard has believed.
Themes
Bowe asks for Rudyard’s forgiveness. He adds that he was going to report that Jack had been wounded as soon as he got back to safer grounds, but right as he left, a shell exploded where Jack was lying. Taking this in, Rudyard softly thanks Bowe. He repeats what the soldier has just told him, paraphrasing Bowe’s words by saying that Jack died while attacking a machine-gun post after having bravely led his men into heavy fire.
The only way Rudyard can cope with the news of Jack’s death is by resorting to his romanticized ideas about honor and bravery. This is why he says that Jack died while courageously leading his men into battle. Putting it this way makes it easier for Rudyard to handle this otherwise devastating loss, making him feel like—at the very least—Jack died a noble death while fighting for something bigger than himself.
Themes
Rudyard never accepts Bowe’s apology, but he doesn’t treat him unkindly, either. Soon enough, Frankland takes Bowe away, leaving Carrie and Rudyard alone in the drawing room. Rudyard tries to take comfort in the fact that Jack showed great bravery, but this does nothing to comfort Carrie. Still, he forges on, saying they can be thankful that Jack had the chance to do his duty as a soldier. Because of this, his life was “complete,” even if it was cut short. Rudyard is proud and happy for him.
Once again, Rudyard tries to make himself feel better by focusing on the honorable sacrifice Jack made for his country. His suggestion that he and Carrie should be proud of this illustrates just how eager he is to reframe the reality of Jack’s death. Instead of seeing it as a tragedy, he wants to view it as something worth praising, as if his son has just accomplished something remarkable. More than ever, it becomes clear in this moment that Rudyard’s reaction is a defense mechanism that Rudyard uses to protect himself from grief— it’s unlikely that he actually feels happy for Jack, who died a gruesome death.
Themes
Carrie criticizes Rudyard for seeing Jack’s death in such a positive light. Rudyard defends himself by saying that—at the very least—he’s comforted that so many other British families are in the same position. Again, this does nothing to comfort Carrie. It doesn’t matter how many people have lost their sons; either way, Jack is still dead. This is why Carrie wishes Rudyard would stop pretending that his belief in duty and honor makes this tragic loss any easier. She then brings up what he said when Jack first enlisted: that if Jack died in battle, it would be the proudest moment of the boy’s life, and one Rudyard wouldn’t want to deprive him of. But Jack was 18, he died in the pouring rain, and he could hardly see. He was in pain. There is, Carrie says, no “glory” in a death like that.
Carrie takes a much more honest approach to her own grief. Unlike Rudyard, she doesn’t try to insulate herself from the pain of losing Jack, refusing to see his death as something to be proud of. Instead, she’s realistic about the horrible circumstances of her son’s death, urging Rudyard to see that his romanticized notions about duty are out of touch with what it’s really like to die in the mud on the battlefield. What’s more, her suggestion that Rudyard doesn’t actually believe these things implies that even he knows that his own idealized beliefs won’t hold up when applied to his own life—after all, it’s much easier to believe in honor and duty when these things are just abstract ideas.
Themes
Rudyard wonders if Carrie wants him to admit that he’s solely responsible for the death of their son. If that’s what she wants, then so be it—not a day passes that he doesn’t think about the possibility that he killed Jack. And when he thinks about this, he wonders if there’s an afterlife, realizing that, if there isn’t, then a sacrifice has to really matter here on earth. If there’s no heaven, then Jack’s sacrifice is even more “glorious,” but when Rudyard thinks this way, he always stops and asks himself how he could “dare” hope that his son hasn’t entered some kind of afterlife.
Now that Carrie has made it harder for Rudyard to cling to his ideas about honor and bravery, he flails for ways to feel better about Jack’s death, going on somewhat confusingly about whether or not an afterlife exists. The most important thing here, though, is that Rudyard admits that he often second-guesses his decision to pressure Jack into joining the army. This confession suggests that he’s not as steadfastly committed to his romanticized ideas as it seems, indicating that, despite his best efforts, he can’t quite protect himself from the raw emotion of losing a son.
Themes
Rudyard knows that Carrie does believe in an afterlife. He therefore notes that she can rest easily, since this would mean that Jack is—in some respects—still alive. Carrie doesn’t refute this, but she does say she misses him, and Rudyard says he does, too. He then bows his head and cries. As he weeps, Carrie talks about losing Josephine, saying that she always felt like a part of herself died along with her daughter. Eventually, though, she healed. But now she feels like all the life has left her, and she doesn’t know how she’ll go on. “We’ll manage,” Rudyard says.
This is a tender moment, since it’s the only time in the play that Rudyard and Carrie connect on an emotional level. It’s significant that Rudyard admits to missing Jack. Until this point, he has tried to focus on the honorable nature of Jack’s death instead of admitting his own feelings about the loss of his son. Now, though, he makes a very simple confession: he misses Jack. And this straightforward statement causes him to break down, as he finally allows himself to feel his own grief, though he quickly gets ahold of himself and says that he and Carrie will “manage.” Rudyard’s quick recovery suggests that he’s habitually returning to his tough, emotionless outlook.
Themes
