Elsie “Bird” Kipling Quotes in My Boy Jack
JOHN. Do you ever long to…
ELSIE. What?
JOHN. No.
ELSIE. What?
JOHN. Doesn't matter.
ELSIE. Say it.
JOHN. …Be someone else for a while. Or, rather, be yourself for a while, that's what I really mean. Sounds like the opposite, but in fact it's the same thing.
JOHN (furious). Oh, shut up. I don't care whether it's sensible or not, or dangerous or not, I don't give a damn as long as I get away, and get out of this house.
ELSIE. Ssh...Jack...
JOHN. I can't bear it.
ELSIE. Jack.
JOHN. I hate it. You don't understand.
ELSIE. I do.
JOHN. No you don't. Sometimes it makes me ill. It does. I get so upset, I actually feel sick. And I can't breathe in. I can't make myself take a breath. It's suffocating. […]
RUDYARD. Listen to me! A family of nations. And Britain, as parents—Mother and Father, has an absolute duty to protect its children, and some of the children are self-sufficient young adults, and need only a nudge in one direction or the other. But some are still bawling, inarticulate, aggressive kids, who need all the help and direction we can offer. But it is a family. And it is our responsibility as parents to feed, to educate, to guide, to maintain our children's quality of life.
ELSIE. And to make money.
RUDYARD. Of course! That's absolutely right. That's why our empire is uniquely successful. We have managed to combine benevolence and commerce. No-one has done it before. Not only are our children better off spiritually but they are better off materially. From Canada to Australia, from Africa to India, the world is a better place, a safer place, a more comfortable place than it was a hundred years ago.
RUDYARD (very quietly). There is a price we have to pay. There is a risk we all have to take. Jack knows that. Germany will go on killing by all the means in its power. She must either win or bleed to death. Therefore we must continue to pass our children through fire, until somehow we win and destroy her.
JOHN. […] Please God I mustn't let them down. Will I be brave? Will I fail?—Onto the firestep—keep the pistol out of the mud—left hand on the parapet—pull—right foot on the sand bags—push up—left leg over—Straighten—run—I mustn't let them down. Some of these men will be dead tonight. I may be dead tonight. Let me live. Stop raining—just for a second.
Oh Daddo—what luxury—to turn on a hot water tap—hot steaming water—evening clothes—dinner at the Ritz—the Alhambra afterwards. Elsie. Mother. Daddo.—My first action—Fifteen seconds—is that the whistle?—one clear blast—left hand—parapet—sand bags—over—run. Run fast and straight. Please God let me live. Pistol high—run, run, run.
RUDYARD. No sacrifice…is too great…no sacrifice, however painful, is too great…if we win the day…
ELSIE (angry and upset). You've missed the point haven't you? God! You just…You've no idea. God!
Silence. RUDYARD and CARRIE are helpless.
Don't you realise, he didn't give a damn about your cause? The reason he went to France, the reason he went to get his head shot off, was to get away from us! He couldn't bear us any more.
Short silence.
The suffocation, the love, the expectation. That's why he went.
Elsie “Bird” Kipling Quotes in My Boy Jack
JOHN. Do you ever long to…
ELSIE. What?
JOHN. No.
ELSIE. What?
JOHN. Doesn't matter.
ELSIE. Say it.
JOHN. …Be someone else for a while. Or, rather, be yourself for a while, that's what I really mean. Sounds like the opposite, but in fact it's the same thing.
JOHN (furious). Oh, shut up. I don't care whether it's sensible or not, or dangerous or not, I don't give a damn as long as I get away, and get out of this house.
ELSIE. Ssh...Jack...
JOHN. I can't bear it.
ELSIE. Jack.
JOHN. I hate it. You don't understand.
ELSIE. I do.
JOHN. No you don't. Sometimes it makes me ill. It does. I get so upset, I actually feel sick. And I can't breathe in. I can't make myself take a breath. It's suffocating. […]
RUDYARD. Listen to me! A family of nations. And Britain, as parents—Mother and Father, has an absolute duty to protect its children, and some of the children are self-sufficient young adults, and need only a nudge in one direction or the other. But some are still bawling, inarticulate, aggressive kids, who need all the help and direction we can offer. But it is a family. And it is our responsibility as parents to feed, to educate, to guide, to maintain our children's quality of life.
ELSIE. And to make money.
RUDYARD. Of course! That's absolutely right. That's why our empire is uniquely successful. We have managed to combine benevolence and commerce. No-one has done it before. Not only are our children better off spiritually but they are better off materially. From Canada to Australia, from Africa to India, the world is a better place, a safer place, a more comfortable place than it was a hundred years ago.
RUDYARD (very quietly). There is a price we have to pay. There is a risk we all have to take. Jack knows that. Germany will go on killing by all the means in its power. She must either win or bleed to death. Therefore we must continue to pass our children through fire, until somehow we win and destroy her.
JOHN. […] Please God I mustn't let them down. Will I be brave? Will I fail?—Onto the firestep—keep the pistol out of the mud—left hand on the parapet—pull—right foot on the sand bags—push up—left leg over—Straighten—run—I mustn't let them down. Some of these men will be dead tonight. I may be dead tonight. Let me live. Stop raining—just for a second.
Oh Daddo—what luxury—to turn on a hot water tap—hot steaming water—evening clothes—dinner at the Ritz—the Alhambra afterwards. Elsie. Mother. Daddo.—My first action—Fifteen seconds—is that the whistle?—one clear blast—left hand—parapet—sand bags—over—run. Run fast and straight. Please God let me live. Pistol high—run, run, run.
RUDYARD. No sacrifice…is too great…no sacrifice, however painful, is too great…if we win the day…
ELSIE (angry and upset). You've missed the point haven't you? God! You just…You've no idea. God!
Silence. RUDYARD and CARRIE are helpless.
Don't you realise, he didn't give a damn about your cause? The reason he went to France, the reason he went to get his head shot off, was to get away from us! He couldn't bear us any more.
Short silence.
The suffocation, the love, the expectation. That's why he went.
