Characters Discussed
Eugene Morris Jerome
Eugene Morris Jerome, an Army recruit from Brooklyn, New York. Eugene is a young Jewish man who aspires to be a writer. He fervently records his deepest thoughts and impressions in his journal, often leaving himself more an observer than a participant in human interactions. He does have principles—respect, compassion, and open-mindedness—but he is hesitant to act on them. He always sees the lighter side of life, and he enlists his quick and acerbic wit to ease him through difficult situations. Having lived a sheltered life, Eugene is eager and determined to lose his virginity and fall in love. At least at the beginning of the play, he does not quite know the difference.
Arnold Epstein
Arnold Epstein, an Army recruit from Queens, New York. Epstein is a stubborn Jewish intellectual who has very strong principles and absolutely refuses to compromise them. He has a nervous stomach and resents being in basic training, and he cannot understand why rigorous discipline and blind obedience are considered superior to respect and compassion in the shaping of soldiers. He immediately identifies Toomey as his enemy and squares off for a fierce battle. To Epstein, life is serious business, a continuous moral quandary. He is clever and sardonic, but rarely light-spirited. When humiliated, and even when beaten on his own terms, he accepts defeat stoically.
Joseph Wykowski
Joseph Wykowski, a recruit of Polish background from Bridgeport, Connecticut, with a stomach of steel and an irrepressible sex drive. Wykowski accepts the rigors of Army discipline without question: To him it is a game that, like any game, he can win. He is decidedly nonintellectual and occasionally anti-Semitic, and he has no patience for moral ruminations. He is the self-proclaimed leader of the platoon. His simple strength and basic clear vision validate his arrogance.
Roy Selridge
Roy Selridge, a recruit from Schenectady, New York. Selridge is a young man with an engaging, though often overbearing, sense of humor. He falls in behind Wykowski as a coarse masculine voice in the group but ultimately lacks the courage to speak out or stand alone. Though his bravado is often hollow, his spirit is always generous and optimistic.
Donald Carney
Donald Carney, a recruit from Montclair, New Jersey. Carney loves to sing—he sings in his sleep—and dreams of becoming a recording star. He is basically honest and good-natured but thoughtful to a fault: He has a hard time making decisions. He is faithful to his fiancée in Albany but views the prospect of marriage with serious trepidation.
James Hennesey
James Hennesey, another recruit. He is a timid young man, relatively innocent and humorless. He misses his family but seems to be adapting well enough to Army life until he is discovered in a homosexual liaison with another soldier.
Merwyn J. Toomey
Merwyn J. Toomey, the sergeant overseeing the platoon’s basic training. Toomey is a hard-boiled Southern military man who knows how to deal with trickery and back talk. He pits the recruits against one another to subjugate them to Army discipline. He accepts the special challenge that Epstein directs at him and determines to win the battle of wills. He has a steel plate in his head, a souvenir from the North African campaign, that accounts for his wholehearted commitment to the rigorous treatment of his soldiers, his sublimated sense of sadness and doom, and, ultimately, his premature retirement from active duty.
Rowena
Rowena, a Biloxi prostitute. Rowena is direct and realistic: She is a happily married woman whose business is satisfying the sexual needs of young soldiers and peddling perfume and lingerie for them to...
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send home to their girlfriends.
Daisy Hannigan
Daisy Hannigan, a local Catholic schoolgirl. Daisy is friendly, pretty, innocent, and dutiful. the daughter of a journalist from Chicago, she likes books and is enchanted with Eugene’s literary aspirations.
Characters
Donald Carney
Don Carney is a private from New Jersey who mistakenly believes he is a talented singer, much to the annoyance of his bunkmates. Eugene, the play's narrator, thinks Carney's most significant characteristic is his indecisiveness, which causes Eugene to have doubts about trusting him.
Arnold Epstein
Arnold Epstein, a Jewish man from New York, possesses a keen intellect and a delicate stomach. He is well-educated and smart, feeling out of place in the army. He refuses to let Sergeant Toomey break his spirit and often rebels, like when he avoids mess hall food despite the consequence of latrine duty. Arnold demonstrates a commitment to a higher moral standard by taking the blame for Wykowski's stolen money, allowing the others to go on leave. Eugene admires Arnold's dedication to truth and justice. Among the soldiers, Arnold remains composed despite the challenges of camp life and interactions with other recruits.
Eugene Morris Jerome
Eugene, the play's narrator, hails from Brooklyn, New York, and his time in the army marks his first experience away from home. Being Jewish, he has three objectives for the war: to become a writer, stay alive, and lose his virginity. His actions during training are driven by these goals. Eugene keeps a journal, indicating his preference for observing rather than participating fully in events. He acknowledges this, for example, by scolding himself for not defending Arnold when Wykowski targets him for being Jewish. Eugene's eventual role as a journalist for an army publication underscores his tendency to write about the world rather than actively shape it.
Kowski
Refer to Joseph Wykowski.
Rowena
Rowena is the prostitute with whom Eugene loses his virginity. She offers Eugene a "freebie," but he feels let down when he returns and she fails to remember him.
Roy Selridge
Roy Selridge is a private from New York who lacks a distinct personality, often following Wykowski's lead.
Daisy Hannigan
Eugene meets Daisy at a USO dance. She attends a local Catholic school. They only meet twice more, but they profess their love just before Eugene ships out. They never reunite, yet Eugene discovers that Daisy eventually marries a Jewish man.
James Hennesey
James Hennesey, a private in the platoon, forces Wykowski to disclose his prejudice by pretending to be part African-American. At the play's end, it is revealed that Hennesey was involved in a homosexual act, resulting in a three-month prison sentence and an impending dishonorable discharge.
Sergeant Merwin J. Toomey
Sergeant Toomey serves as the company's ruthless leader, frequently imposing harsh and unpleasant punishments for minor offenses. He constantly challenges the soldiers, aiming to impart tough lessons; at one point, he even steals money from Wykowski. Toomey is particularly annoyed by Arnold's tendency to question military authority and his reluctance to obey orders. His primary objectives are to crush Arnold's spirit and transform him into a true soldier. Before the ten-week training concludes, Toomey is relieved of his command and transferred to a veteran's hospital.
Joseph Wykowski
Joseph Wykowski, often referred to as Kowski, is a private hailing from Connecticut. Known for being a combative loudmouth, he frequently engages in arguments, fights, and boasts. As the most aggressive private, he becomes the unofficial spokesperson for the company. However, he doesn't represent all the men, as he harbors prejudices, making derogatory remarks about Jews, including his bunkmates, as well as African-Americans. Wykowski acts as a bully and a ringleader; for instance, he is the one who insists on reading Eugene's diary despite opposition from others.
