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Dutiful

Trotter’s bravery and sense of duty is shown when Stanhope promotes him to second-in-command after Osborne is killed. His promotion comes despite the fact that he is not a public school boy like the others. He accepts the role dutifully and says, “I won’t let you down.”

Food, chatter and jokes help to keep his nerves intact and horror at bay. His obsession with food shows - just as with Stanhope’s addiction to alcohol - that every man found his own way of coping with the daily reality of war.

Underneath all the cheer, Trotter too has feelings he keeps hidden. He reveals this when he says to Stanhope, “Always the same, am I? Little you know”. Despite this he keeps going.

At the end it is he who is on the battle field calling for Stanhope’s assistance.

Likable

Trotter presents a humorous contrast to Stanhope when they first appear on stage together. He is described as "short and fat" compared with the hero-like physique of Stanhope who is "tall, slimly built but broad-shouldered".

Trotter’s first line shows him as cheerful and friendly when he talks about food, the exclamation marks emphasising his easy conversational tone, “Ha! Give me apricots every time! I ‘ate pineapple chunks; too bloomin’ sickly for me!”

Even when Stanhope has lost all patience with Hibbert and his bawdy stories and calls him a “Little worm”, Trotter defends him by saying “I reckon ’e only wanted to keep cheerful.”

His dialogue is cheerful, no matter what the circumstances - for example his responses of “Righto, skipper.” He manages to stay friends with everyone without argument for the duration of the play.