Masculinity In Pat Barker's Regeneration

The patients at Craiglockhart Hospital experience several different instances of doubting their masculinity in Pat Barker’s Regeneration. The men experience a variety of forms of emasculation as the plot progresses. Barker writes “The war that had promised so much in the way of ‘manly’ activity had actually delivered ‘feminine’ passivity, and on a scale that their mothers and sisters had scarcely known. No wonder they broke down” (Barker 107 - 108), which accentuates the theme of emasculation.

Signing up to fight in the war was a way for men to become heroes, thus was recognized as masculine. Doctor Rivers’ mission throughout the novel is to help the men at Craiglockhart recover from their experiences during World War I and send them back

out to fight. His practice focuses on his patients’ emotions, which are reluctant due to the feminine connotation associated with sharing feelings. Billy Prior is one of the treated soldiers that insist on preserving his masculinity. Prior, wanting to prove that he is a bold soldier, protests Rivers’ treatment because he refuses to discuss his emotions, and preferred an alternate treatment. Anderson, a combat medic, admits that the hospital had been toying with his masculinity; he had a nightmare about being tied up with corsets. Siegfried Sassoon discusses witnessing a soldier be physically emasculated during the war. All of these patients have a fear of emasculation.
Soldiers were not prepared for the vicious reality of war. Men had to hide in trenches, and began to break down. Being sent to the hospital instead of continuing to fight only augmented the men towards feeling emasculation. The soldiers at Craiglockhart view emotional repression as a way to retain their masculinity. Those who initially looked noble quickly began to feel vulnerable. Barker’s quote emphasizes that soldiers became fragile, rather than durable.