Summary Of The Middle Parts Of Fortune By Frederick Manning

The Middle Parts of Fortune, written by Frederick Manning, examines the lives and experiences of soldiers in the trenches of World War I through the lens of the character Bourne. The work serves as half a fictional novel and half an auto-biography as one can feel the influence of Manning’s time in the trenches throughout the piece. Manning utilizes this narrative style, combined with his experiences, to paint a picture of the war which is accessible both for those who experienced the war and for those that had not. In doing so The Middle Parts of Fortune serves as an excellent window into the minds of the people in the trenches for later generations and historians. While, due to the fictional nature of the work, it is problematic to use the

One of the most direct tools that Manning utilizes in order to demonstrate the unpredictability of combat is the death or maiming of characters throughout the story. Perhaps the best example of this can be seen in the wounding of Captain Malet. Throughout the piece Captain Mallet was portrayed as an excellent officer. He served as a solid pillar of support for Bourne and the men of his company. He consistently maintained order among the men. After building up the character of Captain Malet, Manning demonstrates the arbitrary nature of the battlefield with Malet’s injury. He states, “Dug-out blown in; a beam fell on him, and broke both his legs (159).” Malet’s qualities as a soldier offered no defense for him. Whether a veteran, such as him, or a new recruit had been in the dugout the results would have been the same. This demonstrates for the audience that in the First World War a person’s fate rested not in their hands but on the whims of fate. Another important example of Manning’s use of death and injuries can be seen in the fates of Bourne’s friends Shem and Martlow. Bourne’s relationship with the two began at the beginning of the novel. Throughout the novel Manning showed their relationship become closer as they survived the horrors of the Western Front together. Aside from the main character, Bourne, these two men were some of the most central figures in Manning’s story. By showing the development of Bourne’s relationship with the two men the author created a sense of attachment for the reader. This sense of attachment was then utilized by Manning in order to emphasize the impact of the loss of these two men. After surviving together through the Battle of the Somme, the role of these two men ends near the end of the book at the Battle of Ancre. Shem was wounded in