Conformity In War

Therefore, the experience greatly differs between those of different status. For instance, the upper class of London is able to somewhat easily seem to move on from this event, while others, like Septimus, are both physically and mentally incapable of doing so. From Clarissas perspective, the war is over, and that helps her appreciate life even more. For her, and the rest of London, are trying to get their culture and lives and world back to what it was before the war. This is evident through Clarissa’s big party she is throwing. Her throwing a party is almost in a way how she copes with the world around her. The fact that Clarissa says, “But it was over; thank Heaven-over” seems as if she is glossing over the fact of the war, brushing it

Conformity. William Bradshaw is another example of how the war differently affected the working class versus the aristocrats. Bradshaw is upper class, and wants conformity so England can be what it was prior to the war. Wolff explains this saying, “Sir William not only prospered himself but made England prosper, secluded her lunatics…made it impossible for the unfit to propagate their views, until they, too, shared his sense of proportion” (97) William represents a clear sense of conformity in the fact that he wants everyone to think the way he does, and it unwilling to see those who are different as individuals, he himself even says he is unwilling to even contemplate the idea of “madness”. He is trying to apply a mathematical equation to humans, as if they are simply problems that can be solved. He is not taking into fact that peoples experiences, like the war, change them and their stability, and it is something that will follow them forever. William simply thinks he can end the war for these patients by forcing them to behave in a way that he sees as proper. As long as people regain their sense of proportion, as will be well in his eyes. What William fails to see is the complexity of what it means to be human. William wants these people he sees as insane to conform in part so England can go back to how it was before the war, but that is simply impossible, as both the people, and the country, will never be the same.

The novel not only makes us question how the war effected the individuals of England, it also makes us question what kind of individuals can engage in a war. The continuity of war is also dependent on the nature of humans. Septimus thinks to himself, “Why could he see through bodies, see into the future, when dogs will become men?” (66). This is hinting at Charles Darwin’s idea of evolution, and that we all have primitive features and characters, as it spectates in some way that we all come and evolved from animals. The implication of this is that humans are no different from animals, we have the same beastly and malicious qualities. This in some way justifies the war, or at least helps to explain it. Anyone who could slaughter another human being must have some kind of animalistic or inborn tendencies to compete and dominate. Only animals would consider the killing of others as a victory. This contradicts the notion that “the war is over” because if we are all just forms of beasts the war will never be over, it is in our nature to fight and to kill, all in hopes of winning. Sure, this war is over, but there had been wars and fights far before, and far after. Septimus sees the truth of humans saying, “One cannot bring children into a world like this. One cannot perpetuate suffering, or increase the breed of these lustful animals, who have no lasting emotions, but only whims