Turvey: A Military Picaresque: Analysis of Major Characters
"Turvey: A Military Picaresque" is a satirical exploration of Canadian military life through the lens of its protagonist, Thomas Leadbeater "Tops" Turvey. Born in Shookum Falls, British Columbia, Turvey is depicted as a well-meaning but bumbling individual who, despite his lack of sophistication and unremarkable employment history, aspires to become a soldier. His journey into the army unfolds as he navigates a series of comedic and absurd situations that highlight the ineptitude of military structures and personnel. Turvey's best friend, Gillis MacGillicuddy, serves as both a foil and mentor, cleverly manipulating the military system to advance his status, which ultimately leads to tragedy when he is killed in action.
The narrative presents a diverse cast of characters, including Peggy, Turvey’s supportive girlfriend who embodies common sense and stability, and Horatio Ballard, a reckless private who influences Turvey's misadventures. Through these interactions and experiences, Turvey grapples with the chaotic nature of both military life and personal relationships. The story captures themes of innocence, the search for purpose, and the absurdities of war, inviting readers to reflect on the complexities of human behavior within structured environments. As Turvey confronts the realities of his existence, he begins to seek a sense of order and meaning, making his journey both humorous and poignant.
Turvey: A Military Picaresque: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Earle Birney
First published: 1949; revised, 1976
Genre: Novel
Locale: Canada, England, Belgium, and the Netherlands
Plot: Satire
Time: World War II, 1942–1945
Thomas Leadbeater “Tops” Turvey, the somewhat befuddled, persistently cheerful hero of this satire of Canadian military life. He is backward and painfully lacking in sophistication. He was born in Shookum Falls, British Columbia, on May 13, 1922, went to school only through the ninth grade, and has an employment record that leads nowhere (cucumber pickler, worker in a hat factory, popsicle coater, assistant flavor manager in a candy factory, and oiler in a mosquito-control gang). Lured by a spirit of adventure, he desires to become a soldier. His first attempts to enlist in the army and in the air force are unsuccessful. When the national need for manpower increases with the outbreak of war, he is finally inducted. The character of this army seems clear: If it can take Turvey, it will take anyone. Turvey hopes to fight in a good regiment, specifically the Kootenay Highlanders, in which his best friend, Gillis MacGillicuddy, serves. This determination propels him through a series of situations in which his incompetence and bumbling depict the military and its leaders in an increasingly nonsensical light. Turvey's army jobs are just as dead-end as those in civilian life. His routine infraction of rules and petty lawbreaking earn for him constant company punishment. He is a Parsifal, incapable of understanding any world that does not coincide with his own. An eternal bumpkin, he is readily gulled by others, most of these more misguided than himself, to whom he looks for guidance and leadership. Thus, he is court-martialed for being absent without leave because he impulsively follows a friend to Buffalo to spend the Christmas holidays with two women. He is sentenced to forty-five days detention, but this, as with the punishment he receives from further escapades, is not sufficiently onerous to destroy his good humor. Other characters in the book serve to set the stage for Turvey's purposeless, live-for-the-moment existence. Only when his best friend, Mac, is killed does Turvey begin to realize that only through his own efforts can he bring order to his life and achieve resolution.
Gillis MacGillis “Mac” MacGillicuddy, Turvey's best friend and object of his quest. He runs into Turvey by chance in St. James Park in London. Mac is a con artist who affects an upper-class accent to twist the Canadian army's confused social and hierarchical system to his advantage. Thus, through his wits and a little chicanery (he cheats on the officer candidate examination), he successfully rises from an enlisted man to a lieutenant. As such, he arranges Turvey's transfer to him as his batman and jeep driver. Mac fulfills Turvey's idea of success, a factotum and operator who can challenge the system and win. War is difficult to control, however, and Mac is killed by artillery fire.
Peggy, Turvey's girlfriend and, later, fiancée, introduced to him by Mac. She is a plump and charming young woman who makes Turvey feel like a man of romance and adventure. Their courtship seems a product of the same nonchalance that characterizes most of Turvey's associations. A letter that she writes to Turvey—reaching him three months late for Christmas (when he is a patient in a military hospital in England)—brings them more closely together. Peggy, a force for order and common sense, characteristically tells Turvey that she cares about him by reminding him to change his socks when they get wet. Ensuing visits lead to a promise of marriage, which implies that Peggy will become a steadying influence in Turvey's life, helping him to end the nutty confusion and chaos that heretofore had bedeviled his existence.
Horatio Ballard, a private with the complexion of a celery root, strikingly adept at wheeling and dealing. He induces Turvey to take off to Buffalo, which leads to the charge of being absent without leave. Later, in England, the irresponsible Ballard takes Turvey on another escapade on a stolen motorcycle, and Turvey is arrested again.
Sanderson, the alcoholic lieutenant charged with defending Turvey on the charge of being absent without leave. He does so in a drunken stupor.
Archibald McQua, a gloomy New Brunswicker who leads Turvey into a field full of land mines.
Captain Airdale, a shy army psychiatrist who believes that the best way of diagnosing personality is through word association tests. He is aroused by suggestive words. He says that Turvey is suffering from temporary hysteria with a possible latent father-rivalry: Turvey had machine-gunned his own overcoat because it looked like a German paratrooper.