Saved (Modern Classics)

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Sanderson explains that “it’s easier to overcome our natural human tendency toward inaction in a group setting if we feel some connection to the person in need of help” (57). But, in the wise words of a former critic, this is "violence as a social deformity crying for correction" rather than the product of a cruel and absurd universe. It remains a horrifying scene that captures all too accurately the escalating rhythm of violence and the imaginative barrenness of youths who assume that babies are simply animals devoid of feeling. Within Pam’s family, there is no appreciable emotional consequence since we witness no mourning or sense of loss. However, the really crushing poverty depicted in the play is the poverty of ethics as evidenced by exceptionally poor parenting skills.

Saved is a play by Edward Bond which premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in November 1965. One may cite several key examples, starting with Fred’s sexual innuendo to Pam when she is on a day out with Len who laughs off Fred’s comments, saying, “Yer’ll be in the splash in a minute” (Bond 27). Bond places much attention on violence and he focuses on the breakdown of civilization’s rules, and this notably happens in a working-class area of London. There is no evidence of mourning by any of the adults and the lack of any emotional response is unusual – unless the baby’s life really did have no significance and then it makes perverse sense.

We also witness individuals who are incapable or uncomprehending of their responsibilities even in the aftermath of atrocious, violent deeds. Under such circumstances, it is possible that Len’s subconscious deliberations on whether to intervene and stop the men are tilted firmly towards inaction, not exclusively out of loyalty to his peers but as the best for all concerned! They tend to have high self-esteem and to feel confident about their own judgment, values, and ability” (211). The implication is that they are busy, or should be busy with gender-specific labour (mother, house-wife, landlady) which, in turn, means that the rationale of deprivation of opportunity is not deemed relevant to the female characters of this play.

Interestingly, he may not even be aware of how this mechanism of the super-ego keeps his actions so restricted.Len understands the grimness of his own life and that of his community and he faces this with endurance. However, Len’s personality type is also indicative of the invisible yoke that Freud sees on all men’s shoulders, imposed upon them by civilization’s rules.

With John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger in May 1956, it crystallised the sentiment of a generation into one character: Jimmy Porter, the original ‘angry young man’.His character type was the major influence over his subconscious decision not to intervene, not to save the baby. Every time he finds himself in a situation that could lead to aggressiveness, he simply subdues or represses this impulse.

Additionally, Len whose behaviour is exceptional due to the absence of any violence is the lead character whose passivity is deemed praiseworthy, yet, we have just learned that resorting to violence asserts freedom. If this gives Len a heroic disposition is debatable since it does not match the traditional image of a hero.

This seems to deny Bond’s belief that humans do not need to be violent, because otherwise surely Pete would have done his best to avoid hitting the boy. And with all that, Len is still enraptured to his day-dream of violence created second-hand from other men’s experiences. Of course, we know nothing about the baby – we do not see it, we do not know its name, we do not know if it’s a boy or a girl; as far as its family is concerned, it might as well not exist.