‘in What Ways Does Barker Present the Character of Owen? How Is the Presentation Similar or Different to That of Sassoon?

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‘In what ways does Barker present the character of Owen? How is the presentation similar or different to that of Sassoon? During the novel ‘Regeneration’ Pat Barker uses a number of fictional and non-fictional characters. 2 of these she uses are Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. These were both real soldiers from world war one and both men were established ‘War Poets’. In this essay I will attempt to analyse the way the way Wilfred Owen was presented by Barker and the similarities or in fact differences between himself and Siegfried Sassoon. In the novel, Barker presents Owen in a rather interesting light. From his poems you would get the impression that he is a confident and bold character however from Barkers perspective this is far from the truth. Owen in the poem seems to come across as Sassoon’s biggest fan; he would appear to desperately be seeking the approval of Sassoon, however doubts his abilities within poetry. When Sassoon asks Owen to bring him some of his work he gets a rather unusual reaction, certainly one he wasn’t expecting I imagine Owen burst out laughing, to which Sassoon reassured him by saying “ no I mean it” Owen replied to this “all right” Owen was still laughing “they are quite short”. I think the sudden outburst of laughter followed by the lack of enthusiasm about showing an established writer his poetry would almost indicate Owen did not want Sassoon to see his poems, maybe through some sort of self-doubt. I think Barker is almost suggesting with this unenthusiastic tone of writing that Owen doubts his abilities and believes his poems are not worthy to be read by one of the greatest war poets of all time in his eyes. The irony to this is many people from that era of time actually regarded Rivers as a much more established poet than Sassoon. Not only does she present Owen in an almost shy and unsure manner, I think you could

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