Saved: Analysis of Major Characters
"Saved: Analysis of Major Characters" explores the intricate dynamics of a working-class family and the impact of their environment on individual behavior and relationships. Central to the narrative is Len, a twenty-one-year-old lodger who, despite the violent backdrop of his life, embodies a sense of inherent goodness and nurturing capability. In stark contrast, Pam, his twenty-three-year-old housemate, is depicted as emotionally numb, grappling with hopelessness attributed to her circumstances, including her experience as an unwed mother.
Mary, Pam's mother, experiences her own struggles within a loveless marriage, resorting to flirtation and infidelity as a means of coping with her frustration. Meanwhile, Harry, Pam's father, remains a passive observer, feeling trapped yet unwilling to leave the only stability he knows. Fred, Pam's lover, initially shows more emotional depth but ultimately succumbs to violent tendencies, illustrating the pervasive influence of societal pressures on his behavior.
A group of young men, including characters like Pete, Colin, Mike, and Barry, represent the raw, unrefined anger of their generation, culminating in an act of senseless violence against Pam's baby. Collectively, these characters exemplify the themes of societal victimization and emotional desolation, revealing how external factors shape their lives and actions within a cycle of despair and aggression. This analysis offers insights into the complexities of human behavior and the consequences of a harsh societal landscape.
Saved: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Edward Bond
First published: 1966
Genre: Play
Locale: South London, England
Plot: Naturalism
Time: The 1960's
Len, a twenty-one-year-old working-class lodger. Described as “naturally good” in spite of the brutalizing environment in which he lives, he is an outsider both in regard to the home in which he lives and to the gang of unemployed toughs who congregate in the park. As he moves between the violence of the family and that of the gang, he functions as a theatrical device, highlighting the parallels between the public and the private displays of senseless violence and empty, cliché-littered language. He is the only character in the play who displays nurturing, caring capabilities, and he remains ineffectual in affecting or moderating the actions of the other characters.
Pam, the twenty-three-year-old mother of an illegitimate child, to whom she refers only as “it.” Numbed by the constant arguments in her home, by poverty, by drink, and by watching television, she is filled with a kind of hopeless cynicism that is in sharp contrast to Len's seemingly unwarranted optimism about making things better. She can feel only lust and not love, reacting to Len's affection with hostility and to Fred's abandonment with desperation. Even the death of her child does not touch her. She is as much a victim of society as her child is, and her inability to feel is a product of that influence rather than of any innate difficulty.
Mary, the fifty-three-year-old mother of Pam, trapped in a loveless, empty, and trivial marriage with a husband who rarely speaks, and then never to her. She assuages her sexual frustration by openly going out to meet other men and by flirting with Len. Like Pam, she has no maternal feelings. The years she has spent in this environment have left her with a simmering rage, which she directs against Harry.
Harry, the sixty-eight-year-old father of Pam. An older version of Len, he is also on the outside looking in. He spies on all the sexual encounters in the house, never interfering or reacting until he catches Mary trying to seduce Len. Generally a taciturn character, he does explain to Len why he puts up with everything: He will allow neither his wife nor his daughter to drive him from his home, the only secure place that he has. It is little enough, but it is all he has.
Fred, Pam's present lover, a good-looking twenty-one-year-old. As one of the leaders of the gang of unemployed young men, he is goaded into throwing the first stone at the baby, a crime for which he spends time in jail. Although he demonstrates more feeling than the other men in his gang—for example, he has a tenuous friendship with Len, he is reluctant to tell Pam directly that he is sick of her constant pleas for attention, and he initially defends the baby—eventually he reacts with violence and cruelty. He also is a victim of a society that robs him of his manhood by denying him work and dignity.
Pete, Colin, Mike, and Barry, a gang of young “roughs,” ranging in age from eighteen to twenty-five. Filled with rage against society and totally lacking abstract moral qualities, they redirect their hostility by stoning Pam's baby to death. These are clearly the least sympathetic characters in the play, yet they, too, are driven to this act by the economic and material deprivations of their class.