Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling is a famous British author (and was in real life, too). An idealistic and proud man, he believes strongly in the British Empire, thinking that England’s colonial expansion has improved the lives of…
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John “Jack” Kipling
Jack Kipling is Rudyard and Carrie’s only son. He’s only 15 years old at the beginning of the play. Despite his youth, though, he’s eager to join the army. In this respect, he and…
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Carrie Kipling
Carrie is Rudyard’s wife and Jack’s mother. Unlike Rudyard, she doesn’t like the idea of Jack fighting in World War I, worrying that his nearsightedness will put him in grave danger on the…
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Elsie “Bird” Kipling
Elsie is Rudyard and Carrie’s daughter and Jack’s older sister. An independent person, she’s used to her father ignoring her in favor of Jack. This dynamic even existed back when Josephine—her older…
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Guardsman Bowe
Bowe is a member of the Irish Guards who serves under Jack’s command. Originally from a farm in Ireland, he has trouble adjusting to the terror of life at war. On the night that…
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Guardsman McHugh
McHugh is a member of the Irish Guards, serving alongside Bowe and Doyle. An individualistic, selfish man, he doesn’t respect the fact that Jack is his lieutenant and, as a result, often defies his…
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Guardsman Doyle
Doyle is a member of the Irish Guards. Jack is his lieutenant, and Bowe and McHugh are his fellow soldiers. Along with McHugh, he stops Bowe from sneaking away to avoid battle, suggesting that he…
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Major Sparks
Major Sparks is the army doctor who gives Jack a physical examination to determine if he’s qualified to enlist in the army. The entire time he inspects Jack, he tries to talk to Rudyard…
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Colonel Pottle
Colonel Pottle is an official at the Army Medical Board, where Rudyard takes Jack for a physical examination to determine if he can serve in the army. While his colleague, Major Sparks, inspects Jack…
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Mr. Frankland
Mr. Frankland is a former soldier who served in the British Rifle Corps. He’s friends with Bowe because they both wound up in the same hospital while fighting in World War I. Having heard that…
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Josephine Kipling
Josephine was Rudyard and Carrie’s eldest child before she died at the age of seven. Her painting now hangs in the family’s drawing room. Jack only remembers what she looked like because of this…
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