Regeneration
...of revealing the importance of writing but also as a way of lending the voice of narrator to Sassoon. In the third chapter on pages 24-25, Barker uses three of Sassoon’s poems to add depth to Sassoon’s character as well as giving the reader into River’s feelings of the war. Another character Barker used to reiterate the importance of writing in the practical sense is Billy Prior. Prior is introduced to the reader as having a sort of selective mutism that manifests itself as a barrier between him (Prior) and the external world. Barker chose to remove his speech and replace it with writing as his sole means of communication. In cohesion with the theme of writing as conveying information, Barker only has him respond to Rivers in block capitals which exclude any form of detail. He replies when asked why he chooses to write in capitals that it’s “CLEARER” (Barker 42). Barker does not limit the importance of writing to the realm of transmission of information, but also the use of writing as a medicine. The various purposes of writing presented by Barker are cleverly woven within the piece and are not necessarily visible on the surface of the text. Another goal of writing offered by Barker is its ability to help the healing process. This is revealed primarily through the actions of the “protagonist” (I almost feel guilty applying this term to Rivers) whose methods of curing neurasthenia were considered to be new. Rather than discourage his patients from remembering the trauma they experienced during the war, he encouraged them to actively recall the memories and sometimes to write them down. Rivers himself uses writing to cope with his own memories. He records his dreams on paper and later analyzes them to help him gain insight into his own problems. The major distinction between the writing of Owen and Sassoon lie in their original purpose. The reader is not acquainted with Sassoon’s early work; we are not privy to know where his earliest inspiration stems from. We are left to our inferences; that the war is what inspired him. This is not the same for Owen, we are made aware that his works had nothing to do with the war and thus does not fall into the previous category of pragmatism. It would seem logically consistent to conclude that his motives for writing originally stem from the need to create. However, once he meets with Sassoon and they discuss poetry, he is influenced to start using the war as an inspiration. In this same encounter, Sassoon reads a poem written by Owen entitled Antaeus and Hercules. This mythological reference can be interestingly linked to Barkers theme of writing. It is said that, like the myth, the soldiers are to find...