Regeneration Pat Barker: Themes

Realities of War
1. "Everybody who survives feels guilty"
2. " horror at the extent of the slaughter"
3. "He was free but the word free rung hollow"
4. Butterfly metaphor "emblem of the soul"
5. "Anderson huddles in the foetal position"
6. "I believe the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it."
  1. "Cut a chrysalis open, and you will find a rotting caterpillar...the process of transformation consists almost entirely of decay.”
7. "crouching in a dugout, waiting to be killed."
8. "A society that devours its own young"
9. "Nothing justifies this. Nothing nothing nothing."
Man's inhumanity to man
1. "You must talk before you leave me"
2. "he came in blubbing, I give him a backhander
3. "he was more corruptible than that"
4. "an application of electricity to the spine"
5. "They were still expected to do their duty and return to war"
Role of women and the homefront
1. "gathered together and sung hymns"
2. "just flesh against flesh"
3. "I got the impression they didn't believe in shell shock"
4. "[women] seemed to have changed"
5. He both envied and despised her"
6. "They owed him something"
Physical/Mental/Spiritual Consequences
1. "NO MORE WORDS"
2. "he was forever coming in crying"
3. "his eyelids were raw from the lack of sleep"
4. "he cupped his genitals... they didn't seem to belong to the rest of him"
5. "this lack of faith"
6. "most distressing feature...occasional glimpse...the man he once was"
7. "Prior had lost weight... sharp his cheekbones had become"
8. "you're walking around with a mask on, and you desperately want to take it off "
9. “It's the hardest thing in the world to go on being aware of someone else's pain.”
10. "men...had shrunk"
Politics
1. "In theory the war should stop tomorrow but it won't. It'll go on till there isn't a cat or dog to enlist"
2. "It helps if you've been to the right school. It helps if you hunt. It helps if your shirt is the right colour"
3. "when you put the uniform on, in effect you sign a contract"
Patriotism
1. "The pride of the British army requires that absolute dominanve must be maintained"
2. "He's a bar-room socialist"

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Regeneration Pat Barker: Themes

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	Created by saoirse-anne over 9 years ago