Previous
Mick
An underage soldier who grows up in the wilderness of New South Wales with his mother and grandad. Excited by the opportunity to fight for his country and see a “bigger world,” he convinces his mother to forge his date of birth so he can sign up for the army. Later, he witnesses Frank’s death alongside Tommy and cuts a lock of Frank’s hair in the hopes of eventually honoring him properly back home in Australia. He then gets buried alive and, after he is saved, writes a letter to his mother, using the metaphor of the circus show he was never allowed to attend as a child, in order to get her to reveal his true age and get him discharged. She takes the hint and shows up in Europe only to find Bertie unresponsive and traumatized, a condition he never overcomes back in Australia, where he endlessly stares into space and clutches Frank’s hair. His fate shows how the war robbed young soldiers of their adolescence, even when it was sold to them on the promise of adventure and excitement.
Bertie Quotes in Black Diggers
The Black Diggers quotes below are all either spoken by Bertie or refer to Bertie. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act One
Quotes
Australia. Never heard of it.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Your folks do something, over in the West? [BERTIE shrugs] I wouldn’t know where to begin. His you know, his soul will be stuck here. You know what I mean. With all these trees, they will grow here one day all these—what do you call them? Elms and oaks and all that. And all these hedges and the flowers and we don’t know the names of any of them. And when they burn the smoke is different and will lead him a different way.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act Two
Quotes
You know, even when the fires had been through, the little green shoots came up everywhere. Little tiny tender shoots, up from the bones. But that’s all lost now.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Black Diggers LitChart as a printable PDF.
Bertie Quotes in Black Diggers
The Black Diggers quotes below are all either spoken by Bertie or refer to Bertie. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act One
Quotes
Australia. Never heard of it.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Your folks do something, over in the West? [BERTIE shrugs] I wouldn’t know where to begin. His you know, his soul will be stuck here. You know what I mean. With all these trees, they will grow here one day all these—what do you call them? Elms and oaks and all that. And all these hedges and the flowers and we don’t know the names of any of them. And when they burn the smoke is different and will lead him a different way.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act Two
Quotes
You know, even when the fires had been through, the little green shoots came up everywhere. Little tiny tender shoots, up from the bones. But that’s all lost now.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
