Although Merrick desperately wants to join the upper classes, as personified by the Laytons, he is contemptuous of their "romantic" attitudes towards Indians and India. From Merrick's point of view, it is a simple matter of political subjugation that must be met head on. People like Teddie Bingham, however, see themselves in a familial role, with the British officers of the Indian Army as parent ("maa-bap", "mother and father") to loyal Indian soldiers. This dispute between Merrick and Bingham leads Bingham to fall victim to an INA ambush. Merrick does his best to save Bingham, but is grievously injured, and again becomes a hero in the eyes of the British in India. People from Bingham's class are amateurs—privileged dilettantes—Merrick believes, in contrast with his professionalism, and, from his perspective, Bingham "died an amateur."