Compare the way Sebastian Faulkes presents the themes Of heroism and suffering in Birdsong and Charlotte Gray

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Compare the way Sebastian Faulkes presents the themes

Of heroism and suffering in Birdsong and Charlotte Gray

In both novels Faulkes describes the different forms of emotional suffering that people endured during the war.

In Charlotte Gray, Faulkes shows the long-term effects of the war through Charlotte's father who fought at the Western Front in the First World War. Charlotte's mother, Amelia Gray sees the difference in her husband but he is unable to share his feelings with her and is haunted by his experience in the war

'in his quizzical, doctor's eyes his wife saw some exquisite pain'

Charlotte is also affected by her father's experience; he was obsessed by it and took Charlotte to see the graves. Faulkes hints of an incidence involving her father throughout the novel, which affected her personality and attitudes

'as her husband's struggle developed, Amelia Gray was aware that the main casualty was Charlotte'
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Charlotte has difficulty in trusting and being open with people and Amelia Gray can see that is because of her father's influence on her. As a child, Charlotte finds her father crying and when she goes to comfort him he hits her. This memory stays with Charlotte for the rest of her life but as the novel progresses she comes to the realisation that the horrific things her father saw in the war was the cause of his behaviour and she is able to forgive him. The long-term effects of the war are also briefly described in Birdsong ...

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