The Effects of War

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Recommended: War and post traumatic stress disorder

Death by the millions. War; caused by the petty disagreements of those in power; fought by the brave young men that had no other choice. No one truly wins a war; it does not decipher who is right, only whom is left. The horrors of war are devastating; both mentally and physically. The horror is not only ever present during life on the Frontline, it lives on in the survivors guilt. I believe the horror of war is not only represented in the soldiers, we are all too quick to forget about the feelings of those at home, the friends and families, and the effects the war had on them.

The Physical effect of war is one of its most poignant horrors, and probably its most acknowledged. We aren’t privy to this sort of imagery in Regeneration, it’s shown once when Sarah Lumb stumbles upon the amputees hidden around the back of the hospital “in the shadows”; out of sight, out of mind; almost. In my opinion, I believe this scene, although uneasy and distressing, may be one of my favourites, as it acknowledges not only the human cost of war, but also the fragmented men left behind. Barker draws constrast to the “shadowy figures” with the dazzling effect of the sun upon then; I believe she is trying to contrast what they have become with whom they once were. The light is a symbol of purity and peace, their inner spark has been dimmed into a dark despairing turmoil. There is no future for these men, the war has stolen this from them. Sarah then comments upon their attire, “the trouser legs sewn short; empty sleeves pinned to jackets” as a subtle hint towards their mutilations, making us recognize their losses, inflicting guilt upon us, which is true to her almost shocking style. She notices a singular man who’d “lost all his limbs” and” seemed ...

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...s us of Rivers’ own calculating ways when dealing with the patients. How apt that the Doctor becomes the one that needs help. I believe this is integral as it shows Rivers’s journey of growth throughout the novel, he sees no justification for sending off a generation of men to be slaughtered. In my opinion he’s realised that the men aren’t “mad” they are a product of their creation, it’s the war that’s deluded and unjustly. I believe this guilt is caused by that the fact that he is sending these men back to a place that they will never come out of truly alive, regardless of whether they lost their lives or not. He sees no madness in how the men are reacting, he’s suffering through their experiences, he believes it mad that him and so many others followed this program of war and decimation so duly and wholly in the first place.

Works Cited

Regeneration- Bat Barker

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