Skip over navigation   Pat Barker  Chapters 1–2  Themes, Motifs,
and Symbols  Chapters 3–4   Chapter 1  Dr. W.H.R. Rivers, a
psychiatrist at a mental hospital in Craiglockhart, Scotland,
silently reads a letter written by Siegfried Sassoon in July
1917. Sassoon's declaration, a "willful defiance of military
authority," clearly and logically states his decision to stop
fighting as a soldier in World War I. Sassoon believes that the
purpose of the war has changed; what was once a war of
liberation and defense has become one of aggression. He cites
the suffering of the troops, the political insincerities, and
the "callous complacence" of those at home as reasons for his
protest. Rivers notices that Sassoon has signed the letter "S.
Sassoon," conveniently leaving out his first name, Siegfried.
Bryce and Rivers discuss the possibility of Sassoon becoming a
patient at the Craiglockhart hospital for "shell-shocked"
soldiers. Rivers expresses his reservations, doubting that
Sassoon is really shell-shocked and hesita