Conveying the Strain of War on the Relationship Between Billy Prior and Sarah Lumb in Pat Barker's, Regeneration
In this essay I am going to analyse the difficulty of relationships within the context of war. I will be looking at Billy Prior and Sarah Lumb and exploring their relationship. I will also be looking at the difficulties of their relationship because of the war.
Prior is a very complicated character. His difficult life from both home and during the war is the reason for his emotional conflict which causes him stress. He believes his duty is to serve and cries when told he won’t be returning to war, yet he is hesitant of admitting his fear that he was scared of being killed in the war. He will only talk to Rivers using a notepad and refuses to discuss his memories of the war as he claims to have lost all memory of why he broke down.
Sarah Lumb is a working class woman who by nature of her gender has been shielded from the horrors of war. She moved away from home to work in a munitions factory in Scotland, which shows how women were beginning to replace men who had gone to war. The contact she has with the war is the loss of her boyfriend in the battle of Loos, through this detail Barker shows how everyone at the time could be touched by the war, further illustrating the change of the role of men and women.
Prior and Sarah first met in a pub where Sarah Lumb approached Prior. This shows a change in attitude as usually it would be the man approaching the woman.
After only meeting Sarah for a short time he asked about any past or present relationships Sarah may have had. Sarah then talks about her previous boyfriend who died in the war and ‘brooded for a while over her empty glass.’
She was changed by his death and this was the reason why she moved away from home. This could make their relationship difficult as she knows the feeling of heartbreak from losing a loved one in the war so wouldn’t want to deal with the pain again through being in a relationship with a soldier. ‘Empty glass’ is used as it shows the emptiness and pain she felt inside from the death of
Prior is a very complicated character. His difficult life from both home and during the war is the reason for his emotional conflict which causes him stress. He believes his duty is to serve and cries when told he won’t be returning to war, yet he is hesitant of admitting his fear that he was scared of being killed in the war. He will only talk to Rivers using a notepad and refuses to discuss his memories of the war as he claims to have lost all memory of why he broke down.
Sarah Lumb is a working class woman who by nature of her gender has been shielded from the horrors of war. She moved away from home to work in a munitions factory in Scotland, which shows how women were beginning to replace men who had gone to war. The contact she has with the war is the loss of her boyfriend in the battle of Loos, through this detail Barker shows how everyone at the time could be touched by the war, further illustrating the change of the role of men and women.
Prior and Sarah first met in a pub where Sarah Lumb approached Prior. This shows a change in attitude as usually it would be the man approaching the woman.
After only meeting Sarah for a short time he asked about any past or present relationships Sarah may have had. Sarah then talks about her previous boyfriend who died in the war and ‘brooded for a while over her empty glass.’
She was changed by his death and this was the reason why she moved away from home. This could make their relationship difficult as she knows the feeling of heartbreak from losing a loved one in the war so wouldn’t want to deal with the pain again through being in a relationship with a soldier. ‘Empty glass’ is used as it shows the emptiness and pain she felt inside from the death of