Tim O'Brien's 'The Things They Carried' and Pat Barker's 'Regeneration'. Compare and contrast the ways in which both authors present the futility of war in their text

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'If war is hell, what do we call hopelessness?' Compare and contrast the ways in which both authors present the futility of war in their text.

In his collection of short stories, 'The things they carried' Tim O'Brien attempts to explore the 'bloody eccentricity' of Vietnam- a war dominated by uncertainties and unlike any war which had gone before. The stories connect a group of fictional soldiers called the alpha company in their journey through the war.  The Vietnam War divided America for ten years and lead to a confusing political and social split within the country.  A generation was shaped in a country where business men 'could not agree on even the most fundamental matters of public policy'.  When America lost the war in 1975 the blow was immense to the nation and caused an intense backlash against the patriotism and ideological complacency which had characterised their national 'superpower' identity.  Vietnam became the forgotten war as 'Evil has no place... in our (American) national mythology.'

In the other text, Pat Barker's 'Regeneration' the backdrop is another iconic war, the First World War. The First World War also had a remarkable effect on society and how war was viewed for a long time after its aftermath. The total destruction caused by the technological advances in warfare had never before been seen and there effects were devastating to a society who still thought of war as 'one big glorious cavalry charge'.  'Regeneration' highlights these effects as its plot centres upon WHR Rivers, a psychologist at Craiglockhart war hospital for the shell shocked. Through his character Barker explores the feelings those who couldn't cope with the intense pressures of the war, or like Siegfried Sassoon believed it morally questionable.

In Craiglockhart, Barker creates a setting which fully underlines the futility of war. Characters who are 'shell shocked' dominated the novel and the act of setting 'Regeneration' amid the confusion of those who have 'given up' on the war emphasises the terrible effect the apparent aimlessness of the war had on those who suffered 'without purpose or dignity.'  The fact that Craiglockhart is not a fictional construct; it was a real intuition further serves to make the reader consider 'the sheer extremity… of suffering' depicted within the novel.

Like Vietnam, WW1 was a war fought for uncertain reasons but with certain casualties which were well-documented for the first time as a result of the evolution of mass media.  Barker has taken historical figures, conditions and places and has woven them into her novel seamlessly allowing her to explore the transition of Sassoon and Rivers perspectives on the war. 'Its (Regeneration's) research and speculation combine to produce a kind of educated imagination that is persuasive and illuminating about this particular place and time.' I complete agree with Sheppard as Barker's use of pre-existing characters and her powerful narrative skills convince the reader of verisimilitude of the moral crisis which faced both the soldiers and those who had to 'treat' them.

  Craiglockhart is described as both 'gloomy' 'massive and 'cavernous.' The author uses these terms to highlight the despair felt by those who have been sent there to recover. The negative connations of the words make the reader see Craiglockhart as more of a prison than a retreat from the carnage of the war. Often Barker uses the weather to enforce their isolation and confinement. She writes of a storm saying 'they seemed to be trapped, fixed in some element thicker than air' and the wind 'snapped branches off trees with a crack like rifle fire.' The author's deliberate choice of 'rifle fire' gives the reader an insight into the mental state of some of the characters. Although they are no longer in the trenches, their fear has not left them as they are in an aggressive, harsh environment which emulates the very place they fear.

Also, by setting the novel away from the action in the front Barker reinforces the long term effects of the war which are often forgotten by other historical novelists. In parts, 'Regeneration' often seems like a 'behind in scenes' view into a long overlooked piece of British history with Barker emphasizing the ironies which juxtaposed society at that time. In 'The Eye In The Door', the sequel to 'Regeneration' a young woman is condemned for trying to abort her baby by the very same people who are throwing young men under the German guns for very unclear reasons.

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Similarly in 'Speaking of courage' O'Brien highlights the contradictions in the American society about the war. Norman Bowker, the protagonist of this story is a Vietnam veteran who drives around a small town lake while dreaming that he had somebody to talk to about the war. By setting this story in a small town on Independence Day, O'Brien reinforces the loneliness and isolation of Bowker who cannot seem to connect to anything. Bower is 'in orbit' of the town which seems 'remote', 'brisk' and 'polite'.  Through language like 'polite', 'sanitary' and 'quaint' O'Brien makes the town sound clean, clinical to ...

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