Trauma In Pat Baker's Regeneration

The trauma that soldiers experience on the battlefield leaves them with not only physical wounds that cannot be healed, but also mental wounds. When a soldier loses his leg in battle, he can clearly look down and see where his leg used to be. He can feel where the missing limb should be. The problem is visible, so the problem exists. On the other hand, when a soldier suffers from war neurosis, hallucinations, and nightmares, the symptoms are not tangible. They cannot be seen or touched, so we cease to think they even exist. In the novel Regeneration by Pat Baker, the theme of sanity is tested throughout the novel in each individual patient at Craiglockhart. Keeping with the theme of sanity and mental disorders, Michele Barrett in her article

They may not be able to mentally cope with what they have experienced, so they refuse to talk about it or to even acknowledge that it has happened. The patients refer to Craiglockhart as the “Lonny Bin.” They come here to get treated by Dr. River who is supposed to “treat” their mental illness and send them back to the front. Billy Prior has come from the front and is now a patient at Craiglockhart. Initially Prior is a difficult patient, he suffers from mutism and asthma. Prior writes out everything he say on a piece of paper in all capital letters. Prior will not tell Dr. Rivers about his nightmares, he relentlessly says that he cannot remember what happened to him and insists on having hypnotherapy. Dr. Rivers is reluctant to try this form of therapy unless there is no other option left. After some time, Prior finally gets the treatment he has been asking for since he first arrived. He revisits the moment of his mental breakdown. Two of his men were killed by a direct hit. Prior and a fellow soldier are left to shovel up the remains of his two men into a sandbag “soil, flesh, and splinters of blackened bone…he wanted to say something casual, something that would prove he was all right, but a numbness had spread all over the lower half of his face... He felt as if nothing could ever touch him again” (Baker 102-103). Seeing his fellow men that he considers to be like

Sassoon was a decorated soldier who declared that he no longer agreed with the war and was sent to Craiglockhart, where he was to be treated by non-other than Dr. Rivers. They have a special relationship. Sassoon refers to Rivers as a father figure (this is very popular with soldiers). After many sessions, Rivers concludes that Sassoon is in good mental health and should be ready to return to the front. Sassoon is reluctant to return to the war because he does not believe in the war anymore. Sassoon feels a great deal of guilt and remorse, many of his men have died and he feels guilt-ridden that he is still alive and in this hospital eating well and sleeping on a nice bed. Sassoon’s men looked up to him as a father figure and he took this role on very seriously. Sassoon starts to hear tapping sounds and he sees someone standing inside the door of his room while he sleeps. Sassoon describes a mental breakdown he has, “What happened to me started with a noise. Tapping. It didn’t bother me particularly, I just went off to sleep and… when I woke up, somebody was standing just inside the door. I knew who it was. I couldn’t see the face, but I recognized his coat. ‘Orme. Nice lad. Died six months ago” (Baker 188). Hearing and seeing things that are not really there are