Chapter 4, pg 37-40

BURN’S CHARACTER ANALYSIS

Here you must look at imagery, techniques used on language, symbolism, emotive
language, does it have rhythm etc

You should refer how this passage reflects the history of the time that the novel is set
(war issues should be discussed). You MUST incorporate your understanding of this
passage in relation to the book as a whole.

It is a poignant, abstract scene. It is abstract in the sense that the meanings conveyed are
done indirectly, and also holds numerous symbolic meanings in this passage. It is very OUT of
sync with the rest of the novel that holds naturalistic dialogue. Many of the actions that take
place, is something symbolic taking place in Burn’s mind.

Firstly, what does this scene in essence show?

♦ Psychologically how the war affects the mind’

There is the feeling of a gloomy and dull atmosphere, a sense of isolation and coldness is
preserved, ‘A sharper gust of wind’ and the use of colour, such as ‘wash of grey’ emphasises
the desolation and despair which may reflect Burn’s feelings and outlook on life, hence why he
looks outside the window, the weather reflects his mood.

‘Rain had blurred the landscape’ is the same as when you have tears in your eyes, it blurs your
sight. Once again, the weather seems to match his feelings, it is used as a means to express
his feelings for him.

The colour ‘grey’ lacks vibrancy and life, matching the weather along with Burns’s mood. The
effect of ‘rain blur’ shows that he is so used to the war that he no longer knows what is real on
the outside, knows nothing beyond the war, perhaps lost his perception on what normalcy is
like.

Burns seems to be doing this kind of thing regularly like a ritual. It lends a powerful and
poignant recuperation on Burn’s part – this is because we know it is an abstract peace.

The interaction between him and the other people illustrates his great discomfort, clearly in his
mind. The simile, ‘with a sound like machine-gun fire’ demonstrates how daily and common
things are reminding him of his terrifying experience. ‘He had to bite his lips to stop himself
crying out’ shows his distress and emotional discomfort.

More evidence that his passage reflects Burn’s mind, is the way ‘the war the war the war’ is
written. The lack of punctuation, the repetition using the rule of three illustrates Burn’s sarcasm
on the conversation that the people are having on the bus, it also illustrates how he views the
situation inside his mind. It is how HE interprets it. It shows that he thinks there is nothing else
people talk about – it is all they talk about and thus reflects his resentful mood.

He has a sense of imprisonment, ‘somehow or other he was going get out’ – he must feel
stifled, constrained, limited and restricted. It reflects on ‘don’t have any choice’ as it is exactly
like n the front life.

The line, ‘bus is crowded’ shows he cannot stand the crowd, there are too many people and he
can not handle it because it is so similar to the front line. He sits near the door, as there is a
sense of freedom. He notices the smell of ‘wet wool’ most likely to do with the fact that in
trenches there were ‘wet uniform’ from the war. Barker uses sensory image to not only
illustrate what the war was like to the readers, but to also demonstrate how Burns’s senses are
a way pf creating flashbacks and memories of the front line to him and how it affects him
psychologically.

The paragraph on page 38, beginning with, ‘He sees walking up the … whine of shells’ is a
description that is uncannily similar to what he experienced in the war, for example, ‘the mud
dragged at him’ and it is confirmed when he ‘listened for the whine of shells’. The situation is so
similar that he almost believes he is back at the war, waiting for the ‘shells’. He forgets for a
moment where he is.

We eventually feel a sense of claustrophobia on that bus. Everything he smells and hears is an
exaggeration for him. To him it sounds like a machine-gun, unlike a common person. His
senses have heightened. Everything they do, touch, hear, smell reminds the men of the war –
there is no escape even though they are not at the front line.

When Burns finds that tree he stood under war laden with dead animals, it is interesting to find
that there are different types of animals, e.g. ferret, weasel, and fox – all of which are dead. It
once again relates to the war. There were different types of men and did they merely become
like animals?

Nature such as the rain and trees appear to be obstacles in his path, ‘trees against him’ – what
does this symbolise?

Why does he bother to describe tat the raindrops down his collar? Emphasises that he is getting
wet, or making us notice how skinny he is, though a more implicit reasoning would be to
describe how water is a cleansing process, where he feels he is washing his problems away. It
could allow us to feel the cold rainwater trickling down the warm part of our skin- the stark
contrast between hot and cold causes the readers to feel the edge.

NO MAN’S LAND is the exact replica image we get as soon as ‘barb wire’ is mentioned. The rain
is making him slip, there is an obvious real struggle being emphasised for Burns.

More war images include, ‘boots like mud-clogged’ and the use of words like ‘stumbling and
fumbling’ relates to Wilfred Owens’s poem called ‘Dulce et decorum est’.

We get a description of how he feels, how his body feels against his clothes, the stiff ‘khaki’ not
uniform but mentions the colour – imagine him camouflaging and blending in the landscape,
not as a soldier but something else.

Idea of not being able to see in the distance indicates that he does not know where he is going.
It is all being done instinctively concerning in where he is going. Again, there is this poetic
image we receive of how the mud dragged him.

‘When at last’ reminds us of his long, tiring struggle as he reaches the top of the hill, for him he
is a man of desperation, cannot hold himself upright and it is clear he is having so much
difficulty in performing such a simple task from a normal person’s point of view.

According to Burns, ‘touched slime’ to him it is a reminiscent image. The animals are pests,
though beautiful in their own way, yet they are also hunted animals- seen as a nuisance.

Page 38: ‘Twigs, tore…tripped’ is alliteration, semi-adverbs. ‘Sent and sprawling’ is also
alliteration, which is effective as it heightens the speed. The dead leaves play on the idea of
decay, decomposition, and death. All of which later applies to Burns further into the novel. His
demise is like dead leaves.

When Burns admits that he ‘heard River’s voice…sometimes… in dreams’ we realise that Rivers
is revolutionary therapy may actually have affect on his patients as clearly shown by Burns. It
has the potential to work. It is also very sublime, very abstract to suddenly hear someone
else’s thoughts inside your own head. The italics emphasise that those words are considered as
thought waves.
When Burns releases the animals, it almost can b seen to be therapeutic, his way of letting go
of the deaths instead of it hanging over his head like the animals hanging on the tree.

There is the possibility that he does not feel worthy enough to remain in the world of living
which is why he takes of his clothes. Since the uniform gave him another identity, he wished to
take it off because as long as he wears that, it is a sign and a silent command for him to keep
going, to kill, to fight – he is not allowed to give in and thus he cannot move on.

It is a very pitiful scene; he had to reduce himself to that. He hides his genitals because he
does not feel like a man; the war stripped him off his masculinity, of his manhood, which in
itself symbolises his strength. It is possible he believes he is weak now. He puts his clothes
outside a circle he constructed; to him it is most likely his sacred formation, his own space
where no one can intervene – no war, no fight, no bloodshed and no other people. The colour
around his seems deathly yet it does not worry him, perhaps he has seen, heard, smelt, and in
his case, tasted death to many times to care.

‘This was where he wanted to be’ can almost imply his surrender, he wants to commit suicide,
it is strange, he wants to be in a cold, dark, and dead place. He wants to be amongst the dead,
to be a part of the earth, is perhaps what he wants; he feels so unworthy of living that he
would rather die than live. ‘He felt a great urge to lie down beside them,’ we can interpret this
as his desire to be with the dead animals, so he can finally be at peace, he feels as if that is
where he belongs and he probably wants to free from life.

Barker prolongs on that idea that he might commit suicide by saying, ‘By late afternoon Burns’s
absence…’ It instantly makes us concerned for Burn’s safety. The only drama present in this
passage is the absolute struggle when Burns tries to climb up the hill.

We should recognise how ‘dead animals’ are soon identified as ‘corpses’. There is an
identification of the word used to each other among men. ‘White as root’ gives a vivid image of
how malnourished and skinny Burns is.

The ending is rather powerful, strong and firm and in way we see a glance of hope, ‘he’d
realized he come back for this’ illustrates that River’s revolutionary Freud therapy is in fact
having positive effects. We also realise that Rivers forms a very strong patient-and-doctor
relationship.

What else can we say about the narrative?

It is done in stages, there is this real build up in what he does, he subconsciously and
instinctively decided his route, and there is definite thought process. Overall, it shows that not
everyone was able to regenerate, shows all the contradiction of the war. Burns is in fact an
opposite of Sassoon; he deteriorates due to lack of food, and hence dies.

These treatments are for men to regenerate, but we see that they never do. Sassoon may have
looked as if he recovered, but he will always be affected by what he has experienced and seen,
what we see is how they learn to deal with it but they never really are the same as they were
before fighting in the war.

So they are supposed to regenerate – but not enough, there is never enough.