My Boy Jack explore the real-life famous writer Rudyard Kipling’s belief in the virtue and superiority of the British Empire. The play’s portrayal of his patriotism is consistent with Kipling’s actual views in real life, since he believed that England’s colonial practices benefited not just England itself, but also the many countries it colonized. Rudyard cares so deeply in My Boy Jack about the threat of World War I because he worries that the war might dismantle England’s power not just at home, but all over the world. By a modern standpoint his views are significantly outdated, since he takes the condescending and racist attitude that certain regions—in places like Africa and India—are like “bawling, inarticulate” children who depend on England for support. While this viewpoint is patronizing and offensive, it helps make sense of why Rudyard is so disturbed by World War I: he genuinely believes British rule is good for the world, so he finds any threat to England’s power alarming. On a more basic level, he simply wants to preserve a certain British way of life, finding the thought of Germany overtaking England so horrifying that he’s willing to put his son in danger to protect the country. Rudyard therefore believes that “no sacrifice” is “too great” when it comes to defending the British Empire—a belief that Jack’s death ultimately puts to the test. As Rudyard deals with the tension between his abstract patriotism and his personal grief, the play shows that it’s one thing to talk about the importance of defending one’s country, but another thing entirely to actually suffer the consequences of such a sacrifice.
Rudyard is extremely proud of England’s powerful position in the world. At a recruiting event, he speaks passionately about how England has never “known the shame of seeing a foreign army on [its] soil.” The implication, then, is that England must continue to avoid such shame and must be protected at all costs. Any failure to do so, be believes, would be a terrible disgrace. Rudyard is therefore adamant that young men like Jack have a responsibility to serve their country.
Rudyard’s logic about protecting one’s own country could be applied to the citizen of any country. But Rudyard further believes that England is uniquely special—he thinks that the world relies on England. He sees England as a benevolent colonial power—an empire that has colonized a large swath of the world and, in doing so, improved the quality of life for people in those areas. When Elsie asks why he cares so much about Jack joining the army, he argues that everyone in England has a moral obligation to defend the “family of nations” that the British Empire has built. England, he says, is like a parent responsible for protecting its children. This is a condescending and, frankly, racist outlook, since Rudyard implies that the non-white places England has colonized are like helpless infants without the British Empire’s support. And it is also a self-serving idea that takes it as simply true that England only supports the nations it has conquered rather than exploiting those countries for its own benefit—the historical truth is much more complicated than Rudyard seems to believe. While the accuracy or moral value of Rudyard’s beliefs can be questioned, his perspective nonetheless explains why Rudyard is so convinced that defending England is of dire importance, since he legitimately believes that the fall of the British Empire would profoundly harm the world at large. To preserve the world order, he thinks that everyone should be “willing to sacrifice everything to deliver mankind from evil”—a viewpoint that prioritizes England’s safety over anything else.
But Rudyard isn’t just concerned about protecting England’s position as a global superpower: he’s also worried about preserving the customs of British life. He makes this clear when he gives his recruitment speech, listing the specific ways that Germany could ruin the British way of life. He says that Germans will force British bricklayers to “lay bricks the German way” and that British farmers will have to farm like Germans. “They will tell us what to eat and how to eat it, what to mine and how to mine it, what to say and when to say it,” he says. In short, Rudyard worries that a German invasion will erase British customs completely, as people will have to learn the German language, live in a German economy, and join German culture. The fact that Rudyard finds these potential changes so horrible spotlights his love of all things British. In fact, it’s almost humorous how disgusted he is by small things like the thought of paying with a different currency, as if this would be a terrible form of torture. And yet, the fact that this possibility bothers Rudyard so much also makes perfect sense, since it represents a loss of British culture—something he cares about seemingly more than anything else.
However, Rudyard’s extreme British patriotism becomes a bit more complicated in the aftermath of Jack’s death. He doesn’t abandon his patriotism; rather, Jack’s death simply makes it a little harder for Rudyard make grand, sweeping declarations about the importance of patriotism. Upon learning of Jack’s death, he claims that he is “happy” for Jack because Jack had the chance to do a noble thing by dying for his country. But Rudyard then also admits that he would “willingly lie down now and sleep for an eternity” if it would bring his son back. In other words, Rudyard’s grief is so great that he would rather die than go on living without his son. He also admits to feeling “complicit” in Jack’s death, implying that he pushed Jack toward unnecessary harm. Thoughts like these make it clear that Rudyard’s ideas surrounding patriotic sacrifice aren’t quite as cut and dry as they had been when the sacrifice was abstract, as opposed to the loss of his son’s life. And yet, he still takes “comfort” in the fact that his grief is a “common agony,” since so many other British families have lost their sons in the war. In the end, then, he still holds—perhaps clutches—his patriotic beliefs, even if his sadness makes it harder to prioritize the British Empire over all else.
Related Themes from Other Texts
Patriotism and the British Empire ThemeTracker
Patriotism and the British Empire Quotes in My Boy Jack
CARRIE. He's too young.
RUDYARD. He is not a boy, he is a young man. If you continue to pamper and paw him, you will turn him into something altogether weak and watery…the next few hours will be a serious point in his career.
CARRIE. Do you think it's fair to encourage him?
RUDYARD. I would think it very unfair if I didn't. Within a year, by the end of 1914, we shall be fighting for civilisation itself, one wouldn't want him to miss an opportunity to be part of that.
RUDYARD. Ladies and Gentlemen. We are a people who have never known invasion, have never known the shame of seeing a foreign army on our soil. A people whose soul is as strong and as old as the English oak, and as constant as the brook that cuts deep into the soft valley soil.
They will teach our bricklayers to lay bricks the German way. They will instruct our farmers to use larger fields and cut down the hedges. They will tell us what to eat and how to eat it, what to mine and how to mine it, what to say and when to say it. Our towns will be re-named, and every book, newspaper, map, and signpost will be written in German first, English second. And in your corner shop when you buy your ounce of German tobacco, you will pay, not in pounds, shillings, and pence, but in German marks. And yet this government still supports a system of voluntary service.
But there is of course a pernicious minority who do not intend to inconvenience themselves for any consideration.
We must demand that every fit young man come forward to enlist. And that every young man who chooses to remain at home, be shunned by his community.
Only our unity, our strength, and our courage can save us from destruction.
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.
RUDYARD. Before I married, I lived in the pocket of my true friend, Woolcot. We ate together, we jawed together—about everything, we even wrote together, and then he upped and died of Typhoid. He was twenty-seven, and I was very fond of him. And for a long while I had the general feeling that the world was a wicked place. But you have to take your dose.
JOHN. Do you?
RUDYARD. You sit it out. You wait. Eventually you heal up. I'll tell you something old man, I wish I could be in your shoes now. I wish that I could share with you that clean, honourable task which is ahead of you.
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. […] Why should I stop him? If I had, he would have suffered a living death here, ashamed and despised by everyone. Could you bear that? … It's true. How would he hold his head up, whilst his friends risked death in France? How would he walk down the high street, or into a shop? He wouldn't. He would stay indoors, growing weaker and quieter by the day. Unable to leave his room. And he would wish he was dead.
CARRIE. People would understand.
RUDYARD. No they would not. They know what we are fighting for. They know we must go forward, willing to sacrifice everything to deliver mankind from evil.
CARRIE. Yes that's very fine. But will you believe that tomorrow? Today is the last day you can believe that.
RUDYARD. Carrie, if by any chance Jack is dead, it will have been the finest moment in his young life. We would not wish him to outlive that.
CARRIE. You don't believe that Rud. I know you don't. There is no need to say that to me.
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.
RUDYARD (quietly). Thank you…so…he was killed by a shell…during an attack on 'Puits Bis l4'. He led his men from the front, and was courageous in the face of considerable enemy fire.
BOWE. He was. Yes sir. Very courageous.
RUDYARD. Thank you.
RUDYARD. […] By all accounts he was very brave.
He didn't have a long time in the trenches. But he had his heart's desire. So few of us have the opportunity to play our part. Properly. But he did. He worked like the devil. It's a shame that all the effort should end in one afternoon, but he achieved what he set out to achieve. It was a short life, but in a sense complete. I'm happy for him, and proud of him, aren't you?
[…]
CARRIE. I’m so relieved that you see the death of our only son as such a positive and uplifting event. I am sincerely relieved that you are at ease with it all.
RUDYARD. […] I find it a great comfort that so many are in our position, don't you? It is a common agony. A common sacrifice.
CARRE. No I don't find that comforting. I don't care how many people it's happened to. That doesn't help me at all. Not at all…no.
CARRIE. […] Your cruelty doesn’t surprise me. You are a cold fish, a very cold fish. But that's alright, I know that now. It doesn't hurt me, but don't pretend anymore. Jack was eighteen years and six weeks old. He died in the rain, he couldn't see a thing, he was alone, in pain, you can't persuade me there is any glory in that.
RUDYARD. I believe there is.
[…]
I must ‘believe’ in order to survive at all.
