Duty In Pat Barker's Regeneration

Regeneration by Pat Barker is a novel placed in the midst of the first World War, revolving around the life of a psychiatrist, named Rivers, and the lives of his patients: soldiers who have left the war yet who have not escaped its’ horror. ‘Regeneration’ is “ the act or process of coming back, growing anew or a spiritual rebirth.”. Throughout “Regeneration”, Pat Barker reflects the title’s meaning through the themes of Duty, Parenthood and Mental and Physical Healing that encompass her book.

The first theme that Pat Barker presents to the reader is the theme of duty; duty to oneself vs the duty that one holds for society. Through the various characters that present themselves in the book Pat Barker reflects the theme of duty in two
This declaration also conveys to the reader how Sassoon’s duty to himself has given him a purpose and a voice, when before he didn’t have one. Then in the second aspect of duty, the duty to serve, Pat Barker reveals the respect that individuals have towards their country. The author presents this aspect of duty through the various characters that are in her book. With Sassoon, Pat Barker shows how even though he holds a strong duty for his own beliefs against the injustices of the war, he can’t help but maintain the respect he has for his fellow soldiers: “I take it you’ve definitely decided not to go back? ‘No, I want to go back.’” (p.213) and “He now feels very strongly that it is his duty to go back” (p.245). Here the reader understands that Sassoon has decided to fight in the war despite his views against it. This reveals to the reader the power