The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel Summary & Study Guide

This Study Guide consists of approximately 65 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel.

The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel Summary & Study Guide

This Study Guide consists of approximately 65 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel.
This section contains 1,087 words
(approx. 3 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel Study Guide

Act I

The play opens with the title character, Pavlo, in a Vietnamese brothel with the prostitute Yen. Pavlo brags about his various escapades as a soldier, but underneath his bravado he appears insecure and edgy. A grenade is tossed through the window, Pavlo picks it up and attempts to throw it back out, but it explodes, mortally wounding him. Ardell enters, a black soldier in a "strangely unreal" uniform who serves as Pavlo's alter ego throughout the play (only Pavlo can see or hear Ardell). Ardell's David Rabe entrance triggers for the dying Pavlo a flashback of his army life; this jumbled series of recollections constitute the fragmented action of the play.

The action goes back in time to Pavlo's arrival at boot camp. There he encounters Sergeant Tower, the imposing drill sergeant ("I'm bigger than my name"), who immediately isolates Pavlo for "looking about at the...

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This section contains 1,087 words
(approx. 3 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel Study Guide
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The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.