Pat Barker's Regeneration Analysis

This research paper is geared primarily to elaborate and study the underlying progressive themes with varying narratives engaged by renowned writer Pat Barker in her award winning novel “Regeneration ” While Presenting the essence of “Regeneration ” it is demonstrated that how far the author 's plot & narratives development thrives upon diverse themes of this Anti War novel interestingly covering social class order , gender, sexuality, and their inter relationships. All that vastly influences the mind setup of major characters, their state of motivation, psycho-development, impact of trench war fare on men and the various treatment means engaged by the State and the medical fraternity to regenerate Shell shock” psyche or perhaps a virtual failure of such a recovery in the society at large. Acclaimed among the highly acknowledged novelists of the last two decades, fondly named as Pat Barker across the literary world, Patricia Barker’s work is

Rivers is referred to as a paternal figure whose patients look up to him for care and cure, acutely dependent like Anderson’s case does. Even Sassoon notes that Dr. Rivers’s departure for sick leave reminds him of his father’s departure when Sassoon was a young boy. Yet Dr. Rivers is also referred to as a “male mother” by Layard, a former patient, because nurturing is viewed as a feminine trait (106). Later, as he is departing the hospital, Prior tells the psychologist that he reminds him of his supportive mother. Regardless of these shifting gender roles, Dr. Rivers remains a strong parental figure to his patients. This mirrors the relationship many of the officers have with their men. In one scene, Sassoon remembers tending to his soldiers’ blisters. Dr. Rivers himself compares military officers with harried, destitute mothers: both are trying wildly to save lives they