Character Analysis
Private Goring is a good guy. He's the kind of guy you want as a friend—no really, even Octavian thinks so. Here's what he has to say about his unlikely buddy Goring:
Some nights a friend and drinking-companion of mine of the Patriot forces, a Mr. G—ing, would seek out my fire and would conduct me back to his regiment, with whom I had briefly served. We would form a small band of music and play songs requested by our fellows. These were sweet times. M. G—ing would look about him and would proclaim the joyous equality of all, the liberty that would soon overtake us. (4.9.9)
See? Goring is your resident drinking buddy/eternal optimist. How can you hate on a guy like that? Don't worry, we'll help you. Because the thing is, that all the good intentions in the world don't make Goring a smart guy. As Octavian points out:
Mr. G—ing might speak in sanguine tones of imminent freedom, but he did not know of the secret colloquies we held when no white men were by. (4.9.13)
To put it simply, Goring doesn't know jack—and when the stakes are as high as they are at the time of this book, not knowing jack definitely gets you minus a few points when it comes to awesomeness.
What Goring lacks in intellect, though, he makes up for with heaps of hope and faith in the Patriots, what he calls the "Cause," God, America—all that good stuff. The only problem is (and here we may be able to blame his intelligence again, if we're feeling nice) that he doesn't want to see—or admit—the inequality between the slaves and the Patriots. Octavian says it best:
My companion Mr. G—ing hath a generous heart—a heart so filled with light that I could scarce desire to cloud it—but he did not think on this much when he came to visit me in the evenings. He little noted the lists of slaves made up by regimental commanders, that no runaways should enlist, or the careful tallies of monies to be paid to men who stayed at home and sent their bonded Negroes to the wars instead. (4.9.16)
You can't dismiss this as just Octavian's perspective either, since Goring's own letters support Octavian's observations. The most Goring notes about the differences between the Patriots and Octavian's work detail is this:
I see Friend Prince upon occasion, at the Earthworks or sometimes in the Evening, when we conduct him to our Camp to mess; which me or Shem must do with him as he cannot without Difficulties seek out our Fly, some Officers looking with the Eye of Suspicion upon a Negro who wanders the Camp without Orders & Errand. I find his Company delightful, as must your Brother find Anyone who listens to his Sermonizing & Raving without speaking, fleeing, slapping, or feigning Fits. I find I may speak to Prince as I can speak to no Other because he listeneth. (3.18.4)
It's not that Goring isn't aware that slaves are treated differently in the militia—it's that he doesn't care to dwell on the fact. Instead, he quickly moves on to how much he likes Octavian because Octavian listens to him talk. So, in other words, Goring dismisses the slavery in his midst in order to write about himself—and one of the things he appreciates about Octavian is arguably something someone would appreciate about a slave: Octavian listens to what the white man says.
The best we can say about Goring, then, is that he wants to be a good guy, but ultimately, he's kind of a narcissist who refuses to really consider the bad in life.
No wonder it's so easy for Mr. Sharpe to hoodwink Goring into giving Octavian up to the slave-catchers. To Mr. Sharpe, Goring isn't even worthy of legal retribution; he's "by all accounts a fool: too fantastical of temperament and childish of observation to merit trust; but too trusting to merit confidence" (3.24.4). And funnily enough, we think Octavian would agree with Mr. Sharpe on this one point.