{"id":126,"date":"2008-06-08T20:28:00","date_gmt":"2008-06-08T20:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waiting.com\/blog\/2008\/06\/return-of-the-soldier-commentary-on-the-rebecca-west-novel.html"},"modified":"2008-06-08T20:28:00","modified_gmt":"2008-06-08T20:28:00","slug":"return-of-the-soldier-commentary-on-the-rebecca-west-novel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waiting.com\/blog\/2008\/06\/return-of-the-soldier-commentary-on-the-rebecca-west-novel.html","title":{"rendered":"Return of the Soldier, Commentary on the Rebecca West Novel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note: I owe my discovery of the issues with respect to Shell Shock in the World War I literature to a good friend, Kara Harton. Kara wrote the following paper while attending Yale.<\/blockquote>

Shell Shock in Rebecca West\u2019s Return of the Soldier
History 255 \u2013 The Experience of War in the Twentieth Century
Professor Bruno Cabanes
7 March 2007


Kara S. Harton

Shell Shock in Rebecca West\u2019s Return of the Soldier
Set in 1916 at the Baldry family estate outside London, Return of the Soldier is the fictional story of Chris Baldry, a veteran of The Great War, who is discharged from the military due to shell shock-induced amnesia. His only memories are expressed as flashbacks of his pre-war life. After leaving the front, Chris returns home to Kitty, Jenny, and Margaret, the most important people in his life. Kitty, Chris\u2019s wife, is an extremely poised, genteel English woman who is perfectly content maintaining the household. During the war, she remains confident that as soon as her husband returns home, they will resume their comfortable, pre-war lifestyle. Kitty\u2019s life seems to be dictated by her social obligations, and she cannot accept anything which intrudes upon her perfectly cultivated, socially-acceptable world. Chris\u2019s cousin Jenny is Kitty\u2019s companion at Baldry Court during the war. Jenny is probably the character with whom it is easiest for the reader to identify, and as the narrator of the story, Jenny has the most influence over the readers\u2019 perception of the other characters\u2019 actions. Her fa\u00e7ade \u2013 that of a well-mannered English woman \u2013 is quite similar to Kitty\u2019s, but she seems much more understanding of Chris\u2019s difficult situation.

Kitty and Jenny become acquainted with the other major character, Margaret Grey, during the course of the novel. Margaret is Chris\u2019s old flame and, apparently, his first love. Oddly, Chris\u2019s amnesia seems to have erased all of his memories, with the exception of the recollections of his relationship with Margaret, which occurred many years before. Margaret is of a lower class than the Baldry family, which adds a significant amount of tension to her interaction with the Baldrys. These three women are linked by their connection to and concern for Chris, and together, they must decide how to handle his enigmatic condition and come to terms with the way that his role in their lives has changed as a result.

Clearly, Return of the Soldier is not the typical \u201cwar novel.\u201d There are no battles or images of warfare. In fact, the reader never sees the enemy. However, this novel still makes a provocative statement about World War One. Although the novel takes place on an English estate, far from the trenches of the Western Front, it offers a vivid portrayal of the war by illustrating one of its most important themes: the phenomenon of shell shock. West\u2019s portrayal of shellshock in The Return of the Soldier highlights two key aspects of the condition: the medical and psychological explanations of the phenomenon, and the way that it forced British society to adjust.

The idea of shell shock is introduced in the novel before the main character actually appears. Kitty and Jenny are at Baldry Court, nostalgically reminiscing about the past, when Margaret arrives with news about Chris. She informs the women that Chris has experienced some sort of misfortune on the battlefield but is somewhat hesitant to reveal the details. When Kitty asks if he is wounded, Margaret responds with, \u201cYes . . . he\u2019s wounded,\u201d but soon corrects herself by explaining, \u201cI don\u2019t know how to put it, he\u2019s not exactly wounded. A shell burst \u2013.\u201d \u201cConcussion?\u201d Kitty asks. Margaret clarifies that Chris has shell shock and is \u201cnot dangerously ill.\u201d After her explanation, the women share an awkward silence; they are obviously uncomfortable, and it is clear that neither of them is certain of the implications of the news. (23)

This scene is extremely important because it introduces the idea of shell shock in the novel and serves as an important illustration of the uncertainty with which shell shock was discussed during and after the War. Just as the characters of Return of the Soldier are not quite sure how to classify this condition, most Europeans, including medical and psychological experts, were unsure of the exact cause and characteristics of shell shock. There was an extensive debate about whether the nature of the condition was physical or mental, and whether it could legitimately be classified as a \u201cwound.\u201d The inability to pinpoint Chris\u2019s injury in the previous passage is an excellent illustration of this uncertainty. It is not a tangible injury, and no one can decide exactly how to refer to it. The women seem uncomfortable using the term \u201cshell shock,\u201d which shows their lack of familiarity and understanding of the condition.

This theme reappears numerous times throughout the novel. Kitty has an extremely difficult time accepting the authenticity of Chris\u2019s amnesia. After his first dinner back at Baldry, Kitty becomes extremely upset about Chris\u2019s behavior. Jenny attempts to console her by reminding her that she is \u201ctaking things all the wrong way,\u201d and that his conduct is due to the fact that \u201cChris is ill.\u201d However, Kitty insists that Chris is merely \u201ca man like other men,\u201d and asserts that, \u201cThis is all blind. . . He\u2019s pretending.\u201d (60) Instead of accepting that Chris suffers from a condition which is beyond her comprehension, Kitty would prefer to assume that he feigning amnesia in order to continue an extramarital affair with Margaret. Kitty\u2019s refusal to accept the authenticity of Chris\u2019s wound reflects society\u2019s hesitation to accept shell shock as a legitimate injury.

In order for the condition to seem more valid, the stigma of psychological disorder had to be surmounted \u2013 a significant obstacle to a society in which the mentally ill were considered outsiders. Therefore, it could not be attributed to fear or nervous breakdown due to the atrocities of war; medical experts had to assert that shell shock was caused by proximity to an exploding shell. This explanation was offered by British physician Charles S. Meyers in 1914 when he first observed shell shock in France, and it was accepted for the duration of the war. (Mosse 103) According to Colonel J.F.C. Fuller, \u201cthe sapping of morale by sudden or prolonged fear subordinates a man\u2019s power of will to his instinct of self-preservation and ultimately reduces him to a state in which he cannot control his emotions.\u201d (103) German medical experts agreed and tended to associate \u201cwar neurosis\u201d with lack of will rather than concrete trauma, but this explanation was unacceptable to British society at the time. (103) In order to be considered a valid war wound, shell shock had to be attributed to something tangible.

In addition to providing an excellent illustration of the uncertainty with which people approached shell shock, Return of the Soldier also contains numerous examples of the way that this condition disrupted society during and after the War. After Chris\u2019s return, Kitty wants their lives to return to normalcy because as members of the upper echelon of society, they both have important responsibilities and obligations to fulfill. Jay Winter, a notable World War One historian, calls shell shock \u201ca code to describe the shock of the war to the ruling elite, whose sons and apprentices, being groomed for war, were slaughtered in France and Flanders.\u201d (Winter 10)

In this war, unlike other wars, the higher a man\u2019s socioeconomic status, the greater his chances of becoming a casualty. This fact was very real to the social elites, and the phenomenon of shell shock provided \u201ca symbol . . . of the effect of the war on both their own social formation and British society as a whole, which many of them took to be interchangeable.\u201d (10)\nOfficers were expected to be shielded from the danger of emotional breakdown by their superior competence and judgment, their position of responsibility, and the need to set an example for their inferiors. The awareness that officers were more likely to become casualties (both due to shell shock and more conventional injuries) was an uncomfortable reality for society.

The way that shell shock is presented in Return of the Soldier also highlights another important aspect of the condition: the way that it forced reconsideration of accepted stereotypes, particularly those concerning accepted gender roles. Mosse points out the rigidity with which masculinity and manhood were defined at the time; in most of the Western world, there was an undisputed understanding about the function that a man was expected to fulfill as \u201cexemplar and guardian of the society\u2019s values and coherence in an age of accelerated change.\u201d (Mosse 101) He should be dispassionate, controlled, and moderate, both physically and psychologically. Mosse points out that men whose behavior placed them outside the bounds of ideal manhood were relegated to the ranks of \u201coutsiders, on the margins of established society.\u201d (102) These were men who were nervous or unstable; criminals, ethnic minorities, and homosexuals were often placed in this undesirable category. Nervous disorders, often referred to as \u201chysteria,\u201d were typically considered women\u2019s afflictions, but now, society had to decide what to do with men who were exhibiting the same symptoms.

This theme is not presented explicitly in Return of the Soldier, but it is certainly implied. The Chris that Kitty knows is strong, organized, masculine, and stoic. He is a perfect example of the ideal upper-class British man: responsible, balanced, hard-working, and self-controlled. When he returns to Baldry Court, he is extremely polite, which shows that he still understands the importance of etiquette. Yet much of his conduct is now governed by emotion rather than logic. Instead of behaving rationally and dutifully taking his place in society, he has become emotional, compulsive, and needy. It is suggested that before the war, Chris is not entirely satisfied with his life, especially after the death of his son Oliver, but his emotional expression is stifled by his obligation to manage a comfortable, efficient manor. When he is affected by amnesia, he reverts to a time when he was less refined \u2013 before his manhood had fully developed. When he returns to Baldry Court, Kitty and Jenny are taken aback by his passion and depth of emotion; it seems as though they have never seen him express such strong feelings. His \u201cwound\u201d has forced him to revert back to the behavior of his boyhood. Many Europeans of this era, particularly those in the middle and upper classes, considered war \u201ca true test of manliness,\u201d and after World War One, society was forced to decide how to cope when many of its men were unable to \u201cpass\u201d this test. Mosse explains that this was extremely traumatic to British society because \u201cshattered nerves and lack of will-power were the enemies of a settled society and because men so afflicted were thought to be effeminate, [which] endangered the clear distinction between genders which was generally regarded as an essential cement of society.\u201d (103)

Although West\u2019s Return of the Soldier is entirely fictional, it has an immeasurable degree of historical relevance, particularly in its depiction of shell shock. Even though West never presents scenes of battle and destruction, this book still presents an accurate picture of the disastrous effects of World War One, both in the military and the home front. This novel presents shell shock as a legitimate war injury without overlooking the uncertainty of its nature and diagnosis. Because the events in the novel occur within a few days, West\u2019s focus is not the narrative, but the interaction of its characters. Therefore, it is crucial to analyze their relationships, and not the characters themselves. A careful analysis of these relationships reveals a great deal about the nature of shell shock, and the way that it affected soldiers, their families, and wartime society as a whole.

\u00a92007, Kara S. Harton<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note: I owe my discovery of the issues with respect to Shell Shock in the World War I literature to a good friend, Kara Harton. Kara wrote the following paper while attending Yale.Shell Shock in Rebecca West\u2019s Return of the SoldierHistory 255 \u2013 The Experience of War in the Twentieth CenturyProfessor Bruno Cabanes7 March […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[455,463,464,465],"class_list":["post-126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-iraq-brain-injury","tag-military-head-injury","tag-ptsd-and-world-war-i","tag-world-war-i-brain-injury"],"yoast_head":"\nReturn of the Soldier, Commentary on the Rebecca West Novel - Brain Injury Lawyer Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/waiting.com\/blog\/2008\/06\/return-of-the-soldier-commentary-on-the-rebecca-west-novel.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Return of the Soldier, Commentary on the Rebecca West Novel - Brain Injury Lawyer Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Editor\u2019s Note: I owe my discovery of the issues with respect to Shell Shock in the World War I literature to a good friend, Kara Harton. 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