Theme Of Trapped In Regeneration
Discuss how Barker presents the theme of imprisonment and feelings of ‘being trapped’ through the characters of Burns and Prior in ‘Regeneration’
Within the novel ‘Regeneration’ Pat Barker explores the theme of imprisonment and the feeling of ‘being trapped’ through the use of setting and the characters mentality. ‘Regeneration’ was written in 1991; however, Barker sets the novel in 1917, during the First World War. The setting for this novel is at Craiglockhart War hospital in Scotland and is mainly rooted to this one location. It is at Craiglockhart that Barker explores the theme of imprisonment.
It’s not the characters which Barker uses to show imprisonment and feeling ‘trapped’. Barker uses the setting of Craiglockhart to expand the reader’s visual image of how the characters are trapped or imprisoned. Sassoon, in chapter five, makes a comparison between …show more content…
The character of Billy Prior is introduced to the reader as a mute. The way in which Barker has shown the theme of imprisonment through Priors is through the use of reoccurring nightmares. He wakes up in the middle of the night screaming which is when he regains his voice. Although he gets his voice back, the reoccurring nightmares how that a part of priors mind is still ‘trapped’ within the warfare. This could also show that Barker put across the point that nightmares to soldiers could represent how they are constantly reminded about the horrors of war, and they can never escape it.
Barker shows that soldier’s uniforms are constraints to them and this is apparent throughout the novel. It may have been seen during the war that although a soldiers uniform would show honour and pride, a soldiers uniform could also secrete their true identity and dehumanises the soldier. Barker shows this especially in chapter in chapter four with Burns and the dead animals. By Burns taking off his clothes, it could mean that a little bit of the war has gone away for Burns and he feels relief for removing his
Within the novel ‘Regeneration’ Pat Barker explores the theme of imprisonment and the feeling of ‘being trapped’ through the use of setting and the characters mentality. ‘Regeneration’ was written in 1991; however, Barker sets the novel in 1917, during the First World War. The setting for this novel is at Craiglockhart War hospital in Scotland and is mainly rooted to this one location. It is at Craiglockhart that Barker explores the theme of imprisonment.
It’s not the characters which Barker uses to show imprisonment and feeling ‘trapped’. Barker uses the setting of Craiglockhart to expand the reader’s visual image of how the characters are trapped or imprisoned. Sassoon, in chapter five, makes a comparison between …show more content…
The character of Billy Prior is introduced to the reader as a mute. The way in which Barker has shown the theme of imprisonment through Priors is through the use of reoccurring nightmares. He wakes up in the middle of the night screaming which is when he regains his voice. Although he gets his voice back, the reoccurring nightmares how that a part of priors mind is still ‘trapped’ within the warfare. This could also show that Barker put across the point that nightmares to soldiers could represent how they are constantly reminded about the horrors of war, and they can never escape it.
Barker shows that soldier’s uniforms are constraints to them and this is apparent throughout the novel. It may have been seen during the war that although a soldiers uniform would show honour and pride, a soldiers uniform could also secrete their true identity and dehumanises the soldier. Barker shows this especially in chapter in chapter four with Burns and the dead animals. By Burns taking off his clothes, it could mean that a little bit of the war has gone away for Burns and he feels relief for removing his