The Pilot

The Pilot, whose name is never given, is the play’s central character, protagonist, and narrator. In the description that prefaces the play, she is portrayed in terms that seem to reflect the physical requirements of women in the military rather than anything else. In other words, it seems to be less of a description of the character in the play and more of a description of a person in the American Armed Forces: appropriate in that the character clearly tends to define herself more by what she does than by who she is as a person. This approach to the character’s self-portrayal is a key manifestation of the play’s thematic exploration of the nature of identity.

Aside from there being no reference to The Pilot’s name, there is also no reference to her family of origin or her personal history. There are no...