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
Seven years have passed since Rudyard and Carrie learned about Jack’s death. It’s Elsie’s wedding day, and Carrie fusses over her dress as they stand in the drawing room. When Rudyard comes in and sees his daughter dressed as a bride for the first time, he hardly says anything. He looks much older and weaker, but he manages to say that Elsie looks quite “fine.” When pressed to say more, he awkwardly says that he likes the dress. When Carrie leaves the room, Rudyard tells Elsie that she has finally brought her mother to life again by getting married.
The fact that Rudyard looks old and weak suggests that Jack’s death has taken an enormous toll on him. Although he’d like to think that he and Carrie can “manage” to get along in the aftermath of their son’s death, he seems withdrawn in this scene, as if he can’t quite invest himself in life now that he’s been through such a devastating tragedy. He’s even distracted from giving Elsie the attention she deserves on her wedding day. In this regard, it’s almost as if Jack’s death overshadows Elsie’s wedding, much as Rudyard’s ambitions for Jack once overshadowed his interest in his daughter’s life.
Themes
Making conversation, Rudyard tells Elsie about a Hindu wedding he once witnessed in India. The bride’s mother and father stood on either side of her, and though the mother was dry-eyed, the father wept uncontrollably. The man was distraught, Rudyard says, to lose his daughter to the groom. Elsie responds by apologizing about leaving Rudyard and Carrie all alone, but Rudyard insists they’ll be fine. He then recites a Punjabi saying that “daughters are only visitors.” When Elsie asks what, exactly, this means, he says the implication is that the bride becomes “property of the groom.” At this, Elsie thanks God she’s English, which stirs Rudyard into laughter. He heartily agrees with this sentiment.
Rudyard doesn’t have a very close relationship with Elsie, but he recognizes that her marriage will take her away from him and Carrie. This means that they’ll no longer have any children living with them—Elsie will be gone, and both Jack and Josephine are dead. In this sense, Rudyard’s life is full of loss. However, it appears that he still clings to his patriotism, as evidenced by how much he enjoys Carrie’s joke about being grateful she’s British. Even after losing Jack in the war, then, Rudyard has maintained his idealistic values, though it’s unclear if they’ve actually helped him in any tangible way.
Themes
