When Prior is mute and examines his throat, he writes on a notepad, “THERE’S NOTHING PHYSICALY WRONG.” By using capital letters and at the same time admitting that he has nothing physically wrong with him allows him to express his anger against both society and his father and how they judge him on the basis of whether he has physically been hurt or not. Mutism functions as a symbolic manifestation of the disempowerment and helplessness the men feel; through silence, these men are disobeying those who have power over them. Barker uses Rivers and Yealland, and contrasts how they handle mutism, which is a reflection on their own need to reinforce control over their patients. Another example of this is with Willard’s character, who shows his frustration at being “stranded” and “impotent”. When told by Rivers that “there was no injury to the spine” Willard instantly replies with “You think I’m malingering.” Just like Prior, Willard is embarrassed at what the war has done to him and the only way he can accept that is if it has caused him physical damage rather than mental; he finds it comforting to believe that he is permanently paralyzed than physiologically.
During the novel Barker presents River as not only a doctor, but as a father to the men that he treats. Rivers is a dynamic character who develops and changes throughout, which is ironic, since it is his job to change others. Many of the officers that he gives treatment to are only boys, not men, and he takes on the role of a surrogate father in his relationship with Burns, Sassoon and Prior; the idea of parenthood is complicated by unorthodox gendering of protective roles. A former patient of Rivers' referred to him as a "male mother." This comparison distresses Rivers: "He distrusted the implication that nurturing, even when done by a man, remains female, as if the ability were in some way borrowed, or even stolen, from women. … If that were true, then there was really very little hope." Here, it becomes clear that fatherhood and motherhood tie into a larger issue of gender roles in society. Rivers's method of treatment requires an expression of emotions, a traditionally female idea. Yet although Rivers resents that nurturing is considered to be a uniquely female trait, he ultimately accepts the idea that he acts in a fatherly and motherly way to his patients. For in the end, good parenting skills involve care for the individual. Although war rejects such attention to the individual, as a doctor, Rivers makes his best effort to provide it. In Sassoon’s case, he was abandoned by his father at a young age and as he begins to know Rivers “he’d joked once or twice to Rivers about his being his father confessor.” This shows how he becomes desperate for a father figure in his life that he can turn to and feels that when Rivers leaves he is “faced with this second abandonment”. By using the word “abandonment” Barker puts emphasis on how deserted and neglected Sassoon feels. Another example of this is when Prior is talking to Rivers and he says “Probably why I never wanted you to be Daddy. I’d got you lined up for a worse fate.” This quote shows us that Prior is “affectionate” towards Rivers and looks at him as a replacement father; a father who fully understands what he is going through and does not judge him for it. After Burns goes out for a walk and does not return for a while Rivers becomes concerned and anxious about his whereabouts, and when he returns Burns later wakes to find him “sitting beside the bed” and Burns realizes “he’d come back for this.” By admitting that this sort of affection from Rivers is the reason he has come back shows that he feels he can really trust Rivers; he is someone that he looks up to, someone that protects him in a way that any father would. Here, Barker is making the point that these are commanding officers, yet are really little more than boys themselves, and are having to face the harsh realities of war without being mentally equipped or mature enough to do so.
This leads on to the way in which Barker has showed the war as a feminine experience, with the officers caring for their men. Love and intimate friendship between men is a continual theme in the novel. On the battlefield, love between men is an accepted and desirable occurrence. Sassoon is complimented on the love and dedication he demonstrates for the men who serve in his division. Society looks upon such comradeship favourably, as it engenders a better army. However, there are bounds to the acceptable societal level of male emotional interaction in ‘Regeneration’. Rivers tells Sassoon that although comradeship is encouraged, "at the same time there's always this little niggle of anxiety. Is it the right kind of love?" Homosexuality is implied and Rivers suggests that in wartime, the reaction to homosexuality would be more intolerant than in peacetime, as the authorities would want to make it clear that there are penalties for the wrong kind of love.
In conclusion, Barker uses a sensitive portrayal of characters, both real and fictitious, to allow the reader to empathize and appreciate the challenges that living at that time in history presented. Through her characters she makes the reader understand the pressures that families, but most of all society, put on the young men that were sent off to war and how this affected them, both mentally and physically.
Word Count: 1,371
Regeneration by Pat Parker, Published by Penguin in 1992
