Year 12 IB Extended Essays 2018

Page 13 Candidate Number: FYW812

strong in the upper classes. Homosexuality has also always been closely associated with having feminine qualities, thus being labelled as emasculate was inevitable. Even one of Sassoon’s closest friends, Robert Graves, tells Sassoon that he has been writing to a girl called Nancy Nicholson. Graves says that ‘the only reason why [he was] telling Sassoon this is that… [he would] hate [for Sassoon] to have any misconceptions… and [for him] to think [he] was homosexual’ (Barker 1991, p.199). Graves’ fear of being labelled as a homosexual highlights the negative attitude towards gays which was prevalent in society at this time. It is clear that Sassoon struggled with his homosexuality, as he mentions that it was only after he ‘read a book [called] The Intermediate Sex… [that he] suddenly saw that… [he] wasn’t just a freak’ (Barker 1991, p.54). Further, Sassoon, like Rivers, displays parental qualities to the men serving in his division. Sassoon demonstrates comradeship, dedication, and loving and caring qualities to his men. However, as mentioned previously, showing emotion, especially emotions such as affection towards other men, is unmanly according to societal standards. Love between men was inevitable in trench warfare, as it was a tight environment, consisting solely of men, thus encouraging intimate relationships between the men. Rivers mentions to Sassoon that ‘In war, [there is an] enormous emphasis on love between men – comradeship – and everybody approves. [However], at the same time there's always this niggle of anxiety. Is this the right kind of love?’ (Barker 1991, p.204). In the novel, Sassoon also acts as a fatherly figure to Wilfred Owen, and although it is not certain, the readers can assume that perhaps the relationship between Sassoon and Owen was one of romance. Owen admired Sassoon for his personal qualities and this admiration especially bloomed from the fact that Sassoon was an established writer, and Owen being an aspiring poet himself idolised Sassoon. Throughout the novel, Sassoon reads over Owen’s poetry and helps him edit and improve them, and the readers see the two poets