In the opening two chapters of part two of Birdsong, Jack Firebrace is used to represent the everyman character. In this instance, the everyman man image that he represents is that of the average British man out serving his country in the trenches of France. Like many of the other men, Jack has a family back home in England and is very aware that he may never see them again. However unlike many of the other men in France, he is not serving with the infantry. He is serving with a group of men who are all specialist minors who signed up for this purpose.
The inclusion of Jack Firebrace as a character within the novel provides a contrast between the upper and lower classes. In Birdsong, the upper class is represented through Stephen Wraysford whilst the lower, working classes are represented by Jack. The fact that the two men are serving alongside each other in the trenches allows the reader to see the direct contrast between the two classes.
Ok, thanks for the post, but just to clarify -- it's generally more accurate to describe the officers in the trenches as middle class rather than upper. And it's interesting that you think of Wraysford as upper class - his background is that he had a tough childhood and could very easily have ended up as on of the troops had his benefactor not appeared and had him educated.
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