Regeneration - The Horror of Pity and War
Regeneration - The Horror of Pity and War
Through reading 'Regeneration' by Pat Barker and Wilfred Owen's collection of poems, we see both writers present the horror and pity of World War ? in an effective way. 'Regeneration' shows us a personal account of shell-shocked officer's experience in the war. This links with Wilfred Owen's poems as they too show how war affects the soldiers. Even though 'Regeneration' (a prose piece) and Wilfred Owen's poems (poetry) are similar, they both present different styles as they are written at different times, a male and female perspective and in different literacy forms. Barker has a much more objective view of the war, as she hasn't actually experienced it first hand in term of being a soldier and she is removed in time. However, even though she didn't take part in he war, it was very much a part of her life, which qualifies her to write about the horror and pity of the war. Pat Barker explains in her interview () that her step father and grand father were a part of the war, which effected her as she talks about seeing the war wounds on her grand father's shoulder and how her step father was gassed and later he died of bronchitis. The writers use different styles to allow the reader to understand the war because one is a poet who was actually there and the other an author who wrote much later. For the most part the reader views see things through the eyes of William H. Rivers. Barker is keen to point out that she did not wish to write about trench warfare pretending her narrator was already there; (she calls this a' psuedo - combatant novel') therefore Dr Rivers gives her a perfect vehicle - he treated the wounded officers at Craiglockhart and hears about the horrors they endured by talking to them. On the other hand, Owen did experience trench warfare, (he was killed in battle a week before the Armistice) and is perfectly qualified to write about the frontline.
Barker opens the novel with a protest (declaration), however through out the novel Sassoon is silenced by his protest, which exists only consciously, where as Dr Yealland's patient Callan's silence is broken through his treatment. Barker does this to show the contrast in both River's and Yealland's method, which leads to Dr Rivers questioning his method. Barker's characters in 'Regeneration' allows the readers to see different perspectives of the war, for example; by Barker choosing a character such as Rivers, we see how his attitudes change as he comes in contact with soldiers. By bringing Sassoon, who publicly opposed the war shows conflict with Rivers; we watch the doctor's dilemma as it sets up an inner conflict within Dr Rivers. She leads us to believe that Rivers sees the war as a necessity and that it should be fought to a victory. This can be see in chapter three, page 23 when he agrees with Graves view on the war, however when he treats his patients he is shocked at the horror stories they have told him. Not only does Barker present this idea in Rivers but in Graves too, for example:
'No, I don't think it is. The way I see it, when you put the
uniform on, in effect you sign a contract. And you don't back
out of a contract merely because you've changed your mind'.
(Chapter 3, page 23)
This shows a complex attitude towards war and protest shaped by traditional English education and values. Barker shows tradition of duty and honour in which this is the central conflict that drives the plot. However Wilfred Owen shows a contrast to this view in his poem 'Dulce et Decorum Est'. He resents the way the authorities hoodwink young men into enlisting with talk of glory and ends his poem with bitterness in the lines, for example: -
'My friend, you would not tell with such high zest the old
lie: Dulce ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
(Chapter 3, page 23)
This shows a complex attitude towards war and protest shaped by traditional English education and values. Barker shows tradition of duty and honour in which this is the central conflict that drives the plot. However Wilfred Owen shows a contrast to this view in his poem 'Dulce et Decorum Est'. He resents the way the authorities hoodwink young men into enlisting with talk of glory and ends his poem with bitterness in the lines, for example: -
'My friend, you would not tell with such high zest the old
lie: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori'
(Dulce et Decorum Est, line 25-28)
Wilfred Owen describes the horror and pity of the war by focusing on death and graphical descriptions. Irony is used in both Barker and Owen's work as we can see through the use of the titles for example; in Wilfred Owen's poem 'Dulce et Decorum Est' he explains that it's not a sweet and fitting thing to die for your country, which is also explained in 'Regeneration' as it does the near opposite of getting soldiers better but only to get them better to go back out into the war and die.
Both writers show their views on the damaging effect of the war by constantly repeating the horrors for example; Barker uses emasculation as a motif. We can see this especially in chapter four to six as Anderson dreams of being tied up by corsets seen in chapter four, page 28, Sassoon recalls boy's genitals being shot off and Rivers' method as Prior prefers hypnosis in chapter five. Whereas Wilfred Owen shows in all his poems the damaging effect suffered during the war, e.g.; 'Mental Cases' and 'Disabled' both show the war as a damaging effect to the soldier's minds. For example;
'Now he will never feel again how slim girls' waists are,
or how warm their subtle hands.'
(Disabled, lines 11-12)
This shows the damaging effect to the soldier's minds as the war affected soldiers not only physically but also mentally as they find that their experiences and memories of the war haunt them, which Wilfred Owen establishes in this poem. Both Barker and Owen have shown effectively the damaging effect to the minds of the soldiers. Through the horror and pity of the war we see that not only are the soldiers affected by the war as in 'Regeneration', chapter nine, Barker puts across that officers don't suffer from the war in the way soldiers do. However she contradicts this by showing that Prior is affected by the war as he has difficulties in speaking and River's stammers as he suffers from the effects of patient's shell shock. Wilfred Owen shows a similar case in terms of the damaging effects, in the poem 'Mental Case':
'Sunlight seems a blood-smear; night comes blood-black;
dawn breaks open like a wound that bleeds afresh'
(Mental Cases, line 21-22)
Barker also touches the issue on class as authorities hide the truth about returned heroes, which goes to show that when it comes to war it's an universal truth that false truths are told for example families are lied to about their loved ones when they're killed. We see that in both the novel and the poetry there's a sense of life as a waste as nobody believes they would come out alive for example the young man in 'Disabled' "threw away his knees" and the man gassed in 'Dulce et Decorum Est' "froth-corrupted lungs".
Both writers are similar in the way of effectively describing the horror and pity of the war and it's damaging effects as they both present it in different perspectives for example; Wilfred Owen shows a more personal approach in 'Strange Meeting' as he uses first person to describe the meeting with the soldiers he killed.
'For by my glee might many men have laughed, and of my
weeping something had been left, which must die now. I mean
the truth untold, the pity of war, the pity was distilled'
(Lines 22-25)
Not only doesn't it show a more personal account but its also the core of Owen's poetry, as 'distilled' represents the pure essence without any emotional by products. In contrast to this Barker uses a different perspective, as her views on the soldier's experiences are unbiased as many characters in the novel experience different happenings and have different opinions.
In Wilfred Owen's collection of poems we see a graphic description of the war causing him to suffer from the war for example; in 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' we see the war through the eyes of a soldier and the tales of the descriptive battlefield.
'What passing- bells for those who die as cattle? - Only the
monstrous anger of the guns'
(Lines 1-2)
This describes the soldiers as machines as they are almost sub human. This also links with 'Regeneration' when Sarah Lumb goes to Craiglockhart and sees the suffering of the soldiers. For example:
"One man had lost all his limbs, and his face was so drained, so
pale, he seemed to have left his blood in France as well"
(Chapter 14, page 160)
Not only does Wilfred Owen show us surrounding of the war but also the fear of the soldiers.
The language that Barker and Owen employ empathises the horror and pity of the war through the use of realism. Barker uses irony throughout the novel to heighten the horror and tragedy of the war, which she does this through the description of the war. For example in Chapter nine, she shows this effectively,
'One of the paradoxes of the war-one of the many- was that
this most brutal of conflict should set up a relationship between
officers and men that was... domestic... And the Great Adventure-
the real life equivalent of all the adventure stories they'd devoured
as boys-consisted of crouching in a dugout, waiting to be killed'
(Chapter 9, page 107)
This highlights the irony of the First World War and reflects the paradox of the war. Barker shows the frustration of the war, which empathises the realism and de-romanticization of the war as Wilfred Owen poem 'Dulce et Decorum Est' confronts these themes as he reveals the absence of heroism and the false tale of a sweet death. Wilfred Owen however uses different uses of language for different poems, for example; in 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' he uses personification to make the poem feel more personal/ human, repetition and hyphens to create pauses, which also symbolises and abrupt change in thoughts. Both writers use of language empathises the horror and pity of war. Barker also employs motifs and themes, which symbolises key things that reoccur or significant happening in the novel. Madness, love between men and parenthood are all key themes that are shown throughout the novel. Barker employs these ideas to add to the horror and pity of the war, as these themes are all conscious to the readers. Barker also employed the idea of mutism, trenches and graveyards to symbolise the manifestation of disempowerment and helpless of men. Barker uses realistic references to empathises the horror and pity of the war for example she mentions the skull like mushrooms and the site of the dead animals to show us the state of her characters mind and how war can have this kind of effect. Where Owen uses a different approach to tackle the horror and pity of the war as he uses sexual references, for example:
"And half his lifetime lapsed in the hot race and leap of purple
spurted from his thigh"
('Disabled', line 19-20)
Owen uses erotic language but referring to blood instead of semen. He shows irony here as he explains that the soldier's lost their lives opposed to the creation of life. Owen does this through sexual imagery to continue the point that his injuries due to him enlisting to please his girlfriend and other admirers have ended in him being repulsive to women.
Barker does not shy away from the theme of masculinity. We see this especially in Prior's character as he strongly believes in patriotism and moral duty. Barker does this create false ideas about the propaganda of war. This is also shown in Wilfred Owen's poem 'Exposure' as false perceptions are believed, for example:
'Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knive us...
wearied we keep awake because the night is silent...low, drooping
flares confuse our memory of the salient... worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous, but nothing happens.'
(Lines 1-5)
Both writers show similarities in displaying false ideas of masculinity, in which Barker argues that instead of it being masculinity, it's passivity (boredom of the war) as the men are waiting for the worse to happen, for example:
'Northward, incessantly, the flickering gunnery rumbles, far off,
like a dull rumour of some other war. What are we doing here?'
(Exposure, line 8-10)
Both Barker and Owen show their views on the damaging effects of the war by showing that the effect of passivity destroys the minds of the soldiers as they are led to believe in false ideas of the propaganda of the war. Barker explains in her interview that immobility and passivity led the soldiers to breakdown. Owen shows the propaganda of the war in poem 'Anthem for Doomed Youth', explains that only the British dead are mourned and not everybody else.
Wilfred Owen presents his view on the war differently in each poem, however the war experiences are kept similar, for example the idea of patriotism is 'Dulce et Decorum Est' and idea of the war coming alive in '1914' all show the war in different perspectives in terms of the damaging effect, however Barker uses characters in a more subjective way to show how the war has effected the soldiers and women. Both writers differ in showing the way the war has affected everybody as Wilfred Owen only gives his perspective as a war experience, where as Barker not only shows the experience of the soldiers but the women too. She does this to show us that women are just as important for example in chapter 12, Prior notices Sarah's skin colour,
"By day, the yellowness of her skin astonished him. It
said a lot for her that she was still attractive, that she managed
to wear it like a rather dashing accessory."
(Chapter 12, page 126)
Not only does it show the importance of women, it shows a more powerful side as she gains money independently without the need of a man. By Barker employing women characters such as Sarah Lumb, we see that through the horror and pity of the war women are granted the opportunity of independence and money.
'Regeneration' is primarily structured around the consciousness and experiences of Rivers (protagonist), which he links all the patients together through his mind ideas and beliefs that are reflected. Barker constantly repeats moments in her characters e.g.; in chapter 15, where Burns recalls falling into corpse or Prior holding the eye of the soldier (shown as a flashback in the film) Owen uses a similar touch to constantly remember moments that happened during the war especially in his poem Mental Cases, where he has nightmares. Wilfred Owen's poem 'Disabled' links to 'Regeneration' in the need to remember why they joined up for the war as patriotism was seem as great importance, for example;
'About this time Town used to swing so gay when glow-lamps
budded in the light blue trees and girls glanced lovelier as the
air grew dim, -in the old times, before he threw away his knees.'
(Lines 7-10)
However Barker shows a contrast to this theme as we see in Sassoon's character as he discovers in chapter 18, that he wants to go back to serve in the war, as by him staying only shows him as a coward, which shows the complete opposite of patriotism.
Wilfred Owen shows a sense of false bravery in his poem, which is mainly highlighted in the poem 'Send Off', for example:
'Dawn the close, darkening lanes they sang their way to the
siding-shed, and lined the train with faces grimly gay'
(Lines 1-3)
This shows even though many soldiers believed strongly in patriotism, many were scared of the idea of death and dying for your country, which links to his poem 'Dulce et Decorum Est'. Both the novel and Wilfred Owen's poem link especially in 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' as both Sassoon and Wilfred Owen worked together, through this we see join of the two texts. Wilfred Owen also features in 'Regeneration' as a patient in Craiglockhart hospital as he was an historic fact. Pat Barker includes him in it not to change facts, but to find a creative way around it. Barker joins both fiction and facts in her novel, which we can see when Sassoon and Owen work on the poem together.
Both writers show the horror and pity of the war and they views on the damaging effects in an effective way through the use of language, style and perspectives of the war, showing us the readers and how it affected the soldiers physically and mentally.
