Alan Alexander Milne (1882- 1956)
A. A. Milne was an English author. Milne
was a noted writer, primarily as a playwright, before the huge success of
‘Winnie the Pooh’. Milne served in both World Wars, joining the British Army in
World War I, and was a captain of the British Home Guard in World War II.
The
language of the writer is very natural which can be observed through the
reading. He excels in his dialogues.
His
famous works are,
‘Lovers in London,’
‘Once on a time,’
‘The Red House Mystery’
‘Winnie-the-Pooh’. (Wikipedia)
Character of Philip:
Philip is a young army officer. He went
for war when he was only 19. He has lost his parents when he was very young and
was living with his aunt Emily and Uncle James. When he went for the war, he
was young and innocent. He was quite immature and not following the rules
created by Uncle James.
When he came back from war after
four years, he was again forced to follow the rules of Army, which was actually
created by Uncle James. Philip has passed from enough hardship in the war. He
followed all the rules with punctuality and regularity in Army. Uncle James
wanted him to follow the punctuality in life after Army also. There was a fix
time table in house for each and every work, for example, there was a fix time
for waking and breakfast. If anyone is late for breakfast, the person did not
allow having his/her breakfast.
When Philip came from army, on the
next day he woke up late and came for breakfast at 10 O’clock. He had some
arguments with Mrs. Higgins but Philip won the fight with his presence of mind.
He has proved that he is enough mature to handle his life. Uncle James was not
able to understand maturity level of Philip. He wanted Philip to think about
his career. He wanted Philip to join his Jam business.
Further in the play, Uncle James
falls asleep while waiting for Philip and he had a dream that he has forced
Philip to join his Jam business but Philip was not ready and he rebel against
his uncle by fearing him with gun and bomb. Philip proves his maturity by
telling an incident of Somme in France. After narrating an incident he said,
“That was when I became
twenty-five.... or thirty-five.... or forty-five”
When Philip came in to the room in
reality, Uncle James was not the same, he has given chance to Philip first and
asked him about his desire for the future and Philip replied that he wants to
follow what James has already thought for him.
In the play we can observe the
character of Philip from innocent to evil. We cannot consider his character as totally
evil but he is not an innocent boy as he was before. During the conversation of
Philip and Uncle James, Philip has told some important facts about his war
experience. He raised revolver towards Uncle James and said,
“It's shot such a lot of
Germans.”
He has killed many Germans during war
and this sentence suggests that he has not any fear of killing people. He was
also ready to kill his uncle; he clearly said he will not feel any hesitation
in killing his uncle,
“JAMES. You're--you're going
to shoot your old uncle?
PHILIP. Why not? I've shot lots of
old uncles—Landsturmers.”
At
the end of the play his character creates confusion for Uncle James as well as
readers. When Uncle James says that his manager is a bit stiffed person, he
says,
“PHILIP(smiling). Perhaps
I'd better bring my revolver,”
The
main problem with Philip is that he wants to be independent and free. He cannot
bind himself with the house discipline imposed by his uncle James. He wants to
be his own master. He wants to sleep and rise according to his liking. He
cannot accept any restrictions on smoking. In the family he wants a status of
house master.
References:
"The Boy comes Home" by A. A. Milne
Questions for students:
- Judge the character of Philip. (Is he right ? - Do you agree with his arguments? - Can you consider him innocent? - Can you consider him evil?)
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