Year 12 IB Extended Essays 2018

Page 5 Candidate Number: FYW812

Discussion In the novel, one of the main themes explored is the concept of emasculation, which is displayed through many of the characters. However, there are two supporting characters who particularly struggle with their masculinity after returning from the war. The first of these characters is Anderson, who is one of Dr River’s patients at the hospital. Anderson showcases the emasculating effects of the war as, although he was formerly a war surgeon, he now cannot bear the sight of blood after a mental breakdown. This emotional vulnerability highlights the negative implications which the war can have on a man’s masculinity. Anderson is introduced fairly early on in the novel, when he describes a dream that he has had to Rivers. The dream begins with ‘[His] wife… on the lawn having tea with some other ladies, … all wearing white… [He] couldn't understand why… [but] as he got closer, the expression of the ladies changed., and then [he] looked down and saw that [he] was naked’ (Barker 1991, p.28). This scene in his dream is reflective of how Anderson feels exposed, vulnerable and stripped of his manhood, as he is in a hospital rather than fighting for his country where he feels he should be. Further, the ladies all wearing white is significant, as this colour resembles the white feathers of the White Feather Campaign. This campaign encouraged women to give white feathers to men who were not soldiers to shame and scorn them for their lack of masculinity. The feathers, and the colour white became a symbol of cowardice, surrender and unfulfilled civic duty during the war (Hart, 2010). In the same dream, Anderson is ‘chased by [his] father-in-law and two orderlies,’ (Barker 1991, p.28) who eventually get him cornered and come towards him ‘waving a big stick’ with a snake wound around it’ (Barker 1991, p.28). The stick is symbolic of the Asclepius’ Rod. Asclepius is the Greek God of Medicine, and his rod, which consists of a serpent coiled around a rod, is a symbol commonly associated with medicine (Osborn, 2015). However, what is ironic about Anderson’s dream is that the rod, which is generally associated with positive attributes such as healing and truth, was being used by Anderson’s father-in-law as a ‘big kind