In his poem "Tommy," Kipling describes the reasons for the frustration of a British red-coat during the colonial days. Colonists treat the soldier as a second-class citizen but when they need him they are quick to improve their attitude in order to benefit from his services. As a result, Kipling sympathizes with the solider over the hypocritical treatment he receives from the colonialists.
In the poem's first stanza, the soldier walks into a "public house to get a pint o"beer" and "the publician "e up an" sez, "We serve no red coats here." The girls be"ind the bar they laughed and giggled fit to die." (l. 1-3) At this bar, the soldier behaves like a normal patron. The bartender, however, hates the soldier and refuses to serve him solely because of his job. The soldier, despite protecting the colonists, receives their scorn and their ill-treatment which greatly upsets him. The hypocritical attitude of the colonists disturbs Kipling.
The soldier's rejection from bar, though, does not account for the only abusive treatment he receives. As he "went into the theatre as sober as could be they gave a drunk civilian room and but "adn't none for [him]." (l. 9-10) Instead, the soldier receives two options. Either he may sit in the theater's cheapest seats, the "gallery", a word which conveys the distance of the orchestra from the audience, similar to distance one keeps from artwork in a gallery. Alternatively, the soldier may sit in the "stalls," expensive seats he cannot afford. The solider feels hurt that a drunkard, one who harms society, receives preference over him, who contributes to the colonists" well-being and security. The speaker is irritated that colonists offer him the first "train" on the way to combat and accommodate him when his success benefits their lives but ironically, as soon as he has completed his job, the colonist once again treat him with show contempt once again.
After these two upset instances, the speaker describes the taunting nature of the colonists as "cheaper than them uniforms, an they"re starvation cheap" (l.
