‘the War Provided a Disturbing Context for Painfully Observant Records or Vehicles of Protest.’ Compare and Contrast Two of the War Texts You Have Studied in the Light of This Comment.

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‘The war provided a disturbing context for painfully observant records or vehicles of protest.’ Compare and contrast two of the war texts you have studied in the light of this comment. Both novels, ‘Regeneration’ and ‘Birdsong’ display vehicles of protest throughout them. Pat Barker was an English novelist born in 1943 and one of her famous works includes Regeneration, in which the story is based on real life experiences of shell-shocked soldiers of World War One, who attend Craiglockhart in order to get better. Specific friendships occur and Pat Barker incorporates themes of homosexuality, class, position of women and dreams and hallucinations throughout the entire book, along with other themes. Barker’s grandfather was involved in the war and this influenced her greatly to write this book and produce a powerful meaning into describing the realities of war. Sebastian Faulks, author of Birdsong, was born in 1953 and is a British journalist and novelist. He is best known for his trilogy of novels set in France, one of which is Birdsong in which it tells of a man, Stephen Wraysford at different stages of his life both before and during World War One. World War One started in 1914 due to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife by the Serbian Black Hand terrorists in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. Millions of soldiers and civilians got killed and both of these novels illustrate how awful and horrific the time of the war actually was. ‘Regeneration’ starts with a direct vehicle of protest as Sassoon shows his innocence by going public with his declaration. ‘A Soldier’s Declaration’ is the main threshold of the novel which sets up a seriousness of the situation and it includes Sassoon’s own decision to stop fighting in the war: “I am acting on behalf of soldiers. I believe that this war…has now become a war of aggression and conquest. (p.3) Sassoon

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