Analysis Of The Chapter 'Soldier Boys'

The chapter, “Soldier Boys” analyzes the homoerotic literature and the relationships between men on the frontline during World War I. The first part of the chapter discusses war and sex and then relationships between men, and the nature of these relationships. Fussell has several very progressive statements in there, especially when one considers that this was published in the 1970’s. ““In times of war even the crudest kind of positive affection between persons seems extraordinarily beautiful, a noble symbol of peace and forgiveness of which the whole world stands so desperately in need.” And the gender of the beloved will not matter very much”¹. This argument comes up several times, soldiers on the front line were deprived of regular physical

What we find, rather, especially in the in attitude of young officers to their men, is something more like the “idealistic,” passionate, but non-physical “crushes” which most officers had experienced at public school”¹. There are several problems with this assertion. First, the subheading of the chapter is “Mars and Eros”, Mars was the Roman god of war, and Eros is sexual love. Further, the discussion of sexuality and war does not make sense if he is arguing that most of the homoerotic experience, was in fact non-sexual. Additionally, the quote he uses earlier in the chapter talks about the need for physical comfort during war. This contradicts the idea of non physical crushes. Outside of the purely logical points, the writing that Fussell uses and discusses also implies something very different. An excerpt from the play But It Still Goes On features discussion of habits in the military, “Do you know how a platoon of men will absolutely worship a good-looking gallant young officer? If he’s a bit shy of them and decent to them they get a crush on him. He’s a being apart: an officers uniform is most attractive compared with the rough shapeless private’s

There is also a specific focus on British or English homosexuality and their proclivity for it. “Englishmen came to love one another decently, without shame, or make-believe, under the easy likelihoods of their sudden deaths...While Europe died meanly in its own wastes, men loved”¹. Despite the prejudice and dubious morality of homosexuality at the time, men ended up loving each other in the face of death and imminent destruction. Along these lines, there is a distinct tenderness found in the language and exchanges between men. No one, “can fail to notice there the unique physical tenderness, the readiness to admire openly the bodily beauty of young men, the unapologetic recognition that men may be in love with each other”¹, this again subverts the idea that there was no open homosexuality at the front lines. Another focus of homoerotic art and writing was the image or scene of soldiers bathing. This is a poignant image for several reasons. First, it again draws attention to the young men and their sexuality, but it also presents it in a different