Mother
There are two characters in the poem, the mother and the son, and the poem is written from the mother's perspective.
The mother is saying goodbye to her son and it is heavily implied that he will be fighting in war. She is anxious regarding his departure and reflects on his innocent childhood moments. At the same time, she attempts to restrain her emotion, both steeling her face and preventing herself from running her fingers through his gelled hair. By doing so, the mother attempts to acknowledge her son’s independence and his decision to join the war, despite her own fears and longing for the past. She clearly respects her son as much as she loves him and she is not going to do anything to dampen his excitement and enthusiasm. While the mother is all too conscious of the perils of war and the dangers her son faces, she tries to focus her attention on his perspective and preparing him to leave. Therefore, much of the poem deals with her reactions to his leaving and the efforts she is making for him to make the occasion happy.
The mother is far more realistic about what is happening than her son is. She does not see excitement and opportunity. She sees horror and loss, and subconsciously preparedsherself for the loss of her son by visiting the war memorial and finding that she has much in common with the families of the soldiers memorialized there. The mother releases her son’s songbird, symbolically recognizing his departure, but also solemnly examines soldiers’ graves and wishes that she could again hear her son’s childhood voice.
The Son
The reader is given limited insight into the son, who is described only through the mother's perspective and is discussed in the second person. Because of the use of second person, the poem can be seen as a direct dialogue between the mother and son, and the reader can infer from the mother's intense emotions upon his departure that they have a close relationship.
The son in the poem is leaving for a military tour of duty, but in his mother's eyes he retains his youthful characteristics. His attitude toward leaving home is also remarkably similar to a life-changing step like starting school; he is excited, filled with joy and possibility, and seems to view the outside world as a "treasure chest" containing riches to explore. He seems to have led a fairly sheltered life so far, because much of his excitement centers around the opportunity to leave home and see the world. He has clearly been quite protected by his family, as he is symbolically compared to a caged bird. The son also seems to have no concept of the horror and the danger he is facing and, in the context of this poem, is far less aware of the horrors of war than his mother is.
