LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
BOOKED Solid |
by Rebecca James |
Regeneration, by Pat Barker (Plume/Penguin-Putnam, 1991)
Mass media is saturated with images of war and protest these days, and publications targeting gay audiences are no exception. There seem to be several debates woven together competing for the general public's attention, which becomes problematic given the limited amount of time gay issues have in the media. Gay figures end up spending more time defending whether or not they should advocate their opinions under a gay guise and less about the issue itself. In defending his group's position in a recent Advocate article (March 18, 2003; p 26), W. Brandon Lacy Campos of the Lavender Greens stated, "When we come together as gay individuals, we do not leave behind the other aspects of our identities." Indeed, this trend in the gay rights movement to become more involved in general human rights issues mimics an individual's personal maturation as well. It is not enough to simply be gay to belong to ''the gay community''there is no one such thing. Gay people are approaching the idea of war with Iraq from many different and personal positions. The aforementioned debates include gay people, seeking justice and equality, on opposite sides of arguments like questioning the "don't ask, don't tell" policy during a time of war. Buried among the issues are gay military service people and gay pacifists alike. Ironically, these men and women can come together under the separate issue of whether or not the war with Iraq should occur. It is with this in mind that I revisit Pat Barker's Regeneration. The novel, which takes place during WWI, does a fantastic job of blending historical facts and characters with fictional dialogue and relationships. Its main character is Siegfried Sassoon, a decorated war hero, an officer in the British military, and a prominent poet. After serving bravely for several years, Sassoon has come to the conclusion that the war is being unnecessarily prolonged for reasons he no longer can support, an argument similar to that of our modern debate. In a formal declaration of protest, Sassoon draws the attention of high-ranking officials. Largely because of his record of service and the fear of a potentially public martyrdom, Sassoon is sanctioned to Craiglockhart War Hospital, a sanitarium, instead of being court-martialed. Diagnosed as "mentally unsound," Sassoon joined hundreds of men suffering from varying degrees of shell-shock and other war injuries. Throughout the novel, the soldiers, including Sassoon, attack pacifism. They separate their own fears and protests from the word, as if even considering it would stain the medals they have already earned. Yet the poetry Sassoon produced during that time appeals to many pacifists because of its honest portrayal of war. Sassoon's poetry creates a powerful picture in the mind of the reader, one more in-depth and accurate than any photograph or live video-feed. He demonstrates a bitter sense of responsibility for the men he led in war, a reluctant father role, and eloquently represents the terrifying emotional effects of war on the soldiers. During his time at Craiglockhart, where the bulk of the novel takes place, Sassoon is forced to confront the complex dynamics of male relationships in war. Barker's underlying homosexual themes bubble to the surface in very subtle ways. Her respect for the relationships the men rely on is clear. In some ways, ''homosexual'' is as dirty a word as ''pacifist,'' but the characters' refusal to accept the label, fraught with stereotypes seemingly contradictory to military standards, does not invalidate the importance of the relationships the men formed. Sassoon forms two key friendships while at the sanitarium. One is with his psychiatrist, Dr. Rivers, who is himself questioning his role as a regenerator of soldiers. He has difficulty marrying his immediate role as a nurturer of the soldiers' souls, a healer of their nightmares, stuttering, and psychological paralysis with his ultimate job responsibility, to return soldiers to the front lines, most likely to die. His treatment of Sassoon in the novel is more of a mutual therapy; Sassoon is as much of a sounding board for Rivers's own insecurities as he is a patient, forming a more egalitarian relationship than one would expect. A second relationship Sassoon develops is with young budding poet Wilfred Owen, also diagnosed with shell-shock. With Owen, Sassoon takes on a more fatherly role, providing artistic guidance and companionship that helped develop some of the most famous anti-war poetry of the era. Although the novel ends here, history continues. While Sassoon lived through the war, Owen did not; he was killed in action a week before it ended. Sassoon collected his friend's work and published it posthumously. One of the most well-known poems by Owen, "Dulce Et Decorum Est (It is sweet and meet to die for one's country)" ends: If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori. Perhaps in our theoretical debates about the appropriateness of the involvement of the gay activists in war politics, it would be beneficial to recall the words of those who have been there before. Of course, it is simple to argue that war was and is the only solution, that it was the only way to achieve what WWI accomplishedthat we would, as one opponent in a heated debate stated, all be speaking German if not for the heroic actions of various armies. It is also easy to say that the gay rights movement has not come far enough to divert its resources and energies from the main issues. However, many gay people have come to understand that their sexuality is just one element of life; in order to embrace that sexuality, that life must continue, and we must be willing to live with the politics we support, both directly and through our silence. Rebecca James lives in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where she is completing a degree in English and Secondary Education in May 2003. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 13, No. 2, March 7, 2003 |