Regeneration: The first novel in Pat Barker's Booker Prize-winning Regeneration trilogy (Regeneration, 1)

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Wilfred Owen– The fictional Owen is based upon the actual poet who died just before the end of the war in 1918. His posthumously published poems greatly increased his reputation. [13] He is largely a peripheral character in the novel. [13] Barker depicts Owen as initially unsure of the standard of his own poetry and asks Sassoon to help him revise them. [13] These unrevised versions of the poems are not drafts originally by Owen, but rather versions of the poems revised by Barker. [13] Owen's sexuality is also questioned, as Sassoon comments that Owen's feelings towards him seem to extend further than mere hero-worship.

Regeneration: Character List | SparkNotes Regeneration: Character List | SparkNotes

A number of Wilfred Owen's poems are in the text. Owen and Sassoon are shown working on Owen's famous poem " Anthem for Doomed Youth" together. Barker also revises Owen's " The Dead-Beat" as well as using " The Parable of the Old Man and the Young" and " Disabled", but, according to critic Kaley Joyes, she does this "without drawing attention to her intertextual actions." [26] According to Joyes, Barker describes Owen's as often received as an " iconic status as an expressive exemplar of the war's tragic losses". [26] Joyes posits that Barkers' subtle uses of some of Owen's poems may be an attempt for circumventing the "preexisting myth" about him and his work. [26] An old friend of Rivers from their days at Cambridge. Like Rivers, Head is now a practicing psychiatrist. At Cambridge, the two men worked together on research charting nerve regeneration in the arm and hand. Head is a dedicated scientist who believes strongly in the merits of his research, and is a good friend to Rivers. BrycePart III [ edit ] Original manuscript of Owen's "Anthem for Doomed Youth", showing Sassoon's revisions. Barker recreates the revision process for the poem in Regeneration

Regeneration: Pat Barker and Regeneration Background | SparkNotes Regeneration: Pat Barker and Regeneration Background | SparkNotes

Parenthood is linked in the novel to comradeship and caring. Parent-like protectiveness appears as a natural reaction to having men under one's command or patients under one's watch. Especially in wartime situations—in which control over many aspects of one's existence is so limited—a desire to protect others serves as an outlet for the need for some measure of control. Some examples in the novel are Prior's fatherly feelings for his troops, and the way many of the patients hold Rivers to be a surrogate father figure. Lee, Hermione (10 August 2012). "Toby's Room by Pat Barker – review". The Guardian . Retrieved 20 August 2018.

Regeneration Pat Barker - Key Takeaways

The idea of "regeneration" functions in the novel to inform and develop the concepts of healing, changing, and regrowth. It occurs several times, most notably in the nerve regeneration experiments Rivers practices on Head, and in the figurative regeneration of men's "nerves" in the War Hospital. Rivers also undergoes a sort of regeneration in the novel. Through observations of his patients, reflections on his upbringing, and most importantly his interactions with Sassoon, Rivers questions many of the assumptions of war and duty that he previously held. This motif highlights the comparison between mental and physical healing, and it emphasizes the regrowth and change in a man who has been confronted with the reality of war. Emasculation In addition to Sassoon's conflict, the opening chapters of the novel describe the suffering of other soldiers in the hospital. Anderson, a former surgeon, now cannot stand the sight of blood. Haunted by terrible hallucinations after being thrown into the air by an explosion and landing head first in the ruptured stomach of a rotting dead soldier, Burns experiences a revulsion to eating. Another patient, Billy Prior, suffers from mutism and will only write communications with Rivers on a notepad. Prior eventually regains his voice, but remains a difficult patient for Rivers avoiding any discussion of his war memories. Mukherjeea, Ankhi (2001). "Stammering to Story: Neurosis and Narration in Pat Barker's Regeneration". Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction. 43 (1): 49–62. doi: 10.1080/00111610109602171. S2CID 145071817.