Analyse Faulks' presentation if friendships and love affairs in Birdsong, showing which relationships had the greatest impact on your understanding of the novel.
Analyse Faulks’ presentation of friendships and love affairs in Birdsong, showing which relationships and love affairs had the greatest impact on your understanding of the novel.
One of the most significant relationships, if not the most, is the friendship between Jack Firebrace and the main character, Stephen Wraysford. This is because Jack remains a constant in Stephen’s war life which contrasts with all the other relationships with the men Stephen makes as he suffered the loss of many of them. The first time Jack and Stephen meet is also the first time the reader sees Stephen in the war. Stephen is described as having a ‘cold’ voice which contrast to how compassionate the reader has seen him with Isabelle. This is significant as the dominance he has as an officer shows how the war and Isabelle’s departure has affected him. The fact that we see this through another character’s point of view shows that Jack is important and makes the reader unsure about Stephen as they cannot be sure if he has been hardened and lost his empathy towards others. However in the scene where Stephen and Weir are intoxicated and do not charge Jack for sleeping while on duty it appears that Jack and Stephen’s common interest in art and the sympathy Stephen shows for Jack’s ill son will help develop their relationship and shows that Stephen does still infact hold empathy for others, despite their difference in rank.
Stephen also shows interest in going into the tunnels with Jack and calls out as a farewell ‘I’ll see you in that tunnel’ which foreshadows their situation towards the end of the novel. The fact that Jack goes to pay his respects for Stephen when he is believed to be dead shows how important the relationship has become to him despite his reluctance to make relationships due to the losses experienced at war. The act where Stephen ‘pitched into Jack’s arms’ links to the imagery of a child or brother in a loving and protective embrace which is odd considering the difference
One of the most significant relationships, if not the most, is the friendship between Jack Firebrace and the main character, Stephen Wraysford. This is because Jack remains a constant in Stephen’s war life which contrasts with all the other relationships with the men Stephen makes as he suffered the loss of many of them. The first time Jack and Stephen meet is also the first time the reader sees Stephen in the war. Stephen is described as having a ‘cold’ voice which contrast to how compassionate the reader has seen him with Isabelle. This is significant as the dominance he has as an officer shows how the war and Isabelle’s departure has affected him. The fact that we see this through another character’s point of view shows that Jack is important and makes the reader unsure about Stephen as they cannot be sure if he has been hardened and lost his empathy towards others. However in the scene where Stephen and Weir are intoxicated and do not charge Jack for sleeping while on duty it appears that Jack and Stephen’s common interest in art and the sympathy Stephen shows for Jack’s ill son will help develop their relationship and shows that Stephen does still infact hold empathy for others, despite their difference in rank.
Stephen also shows interest in going into the tunnels with Jack and calls out as a farewell ‘I’ll see you in that tunnel’ which foreshadows their situation towards the end of the novel. The fact that Jack goes to pay his respects for Stephen when he is believed to be dead shows how important the relationship has become to him despite his reluctance to make relationships due to the losses experienced at war. The act where Stephen ‘pitched into Jack’s arms’ links to the imagery of a child or brother in a loving and protective embrace which is odd considering the difference