Regeneration (novel) - Characters

Characters

Siegfried Sassoon – The fictional Siegfried Sassoon is closely based on the real Sassoon. Sassoon's father abandoned the family and died shortly afterwards, when Sassoon was still a child. In the novel Rivers is portrayed as a paternal figure to Sassoon, which reflects their actual relationship. (The real Sassoon is said to have been rather shocked by Rivers' sudden death in 1922.) Despite the fact that Sassoon was a decorated soldier, his experiences in World War I caused him to publish an anti-war declaration. Although the character in Regeneration eventually returns to the front (as did the historical Sassoon), Barker gives the impression that he remains deeply ambivalent about warfare. In addition to his ambivalence about military combat, Sassoon's ambiguous feelings about his sexuality are modelled on the actual Sassoon's biography as well. Although Sassoon got married to Hester Gatty in 1933, he did have homosexual affairs with several men after the war.

Dr. W.H.R. Rivers – A character based upon the real-life W. H. R. Rivers, an English anthropologist, neurologist, and psychiatrist, who worked at Craiglockhart War Hospital between 1916–1917 and was a treating physician for Siegfried Sassoon. His experimental research into nerve regeneration, performed together with his friend, Henry Head, inspired the title of Barker's novel as well as some of the trilogy's major themes, such as trauma, injury, and healing. (The historical Rivers' ethnological studies play a central role in the sequels to Regeneration, especially in The Ghost Road.) In Barker's portrayal, Rivers suffers throughout the novel from the moral dilemma that he is treating soldiers in order that they can return to war. He watches the harsh treatment used by Dr. Lewis Yealland and wonders whether his (seemingly gentler and kinder) methods are just as painful for the men in his care. The (somewhat oversimplified) contrast between the two doctors and their way of dealing with shell-shock touches upon further themes pivotal to understanding Barker's war trilogy: various kinds of institutionalized violence, mutism and silence as a sign of trauma or a form of resistance, the horrors of warfare as a challenge to language itself. In this context, it is important to note that Rivers is struggling with a nervous stammer he has had since childhood, even though his own father used to be a speech therapist.

Billy Prior- Prior is one of the few purely fictional characters in the book. Prior is a soldier at Craiglockhart who suffers from mutism and asthma. Prior is a difficult character for Rivers to deal with as he often reflects Rivers' own dilemmas, insecurities, or shortcomings, for instance, Rivers' unconscious class prejudice. Prior is a working-class officer who has risen to the rank of lieutenant despite his background. Straddling the class divide, the perceptive and cynical Prior sees the British army mirroring the class system, even in the trenches. Prior appears envious of those who are not involved in the war experience, such as Sarah, his love interest in the novel. In the later novels of the Regeneration Trilogy, we learn that Prior is bisexual, but this is not apparent in the first book. However, this reveal of Prior's sexual orientation then adds another facet to his characterization as a man fundamentally at war with himself: torn between his working-class roots and his army career, between his officially acknowledged love for Sarah and his "forbidden" sexual attraction towards other men, between his violent father and his fussing mother, his longing for peace and his hatred of civilians unaffected by the horrors of trench warfare.

David Burns – David Burns is another patient at Craiglockhart War Hospital, a fictionalised version of one of Rivers' real patients as described in the psychologist's case studies. Burns has been unable to eat after a bomb explosion threw him headlong into the gas-filled belly of a corpse, which caused him to swallow some of the rotting flesh.

Wilfred Owen- Owen is another character based upon a real-life poet. Wilfred Owen is considered one of the great poets of World War I. He died in 1918 just before the end of the war. Barker depicts Owen as initially unsure of the standard of his own poetry. His sexuality is also questioned, as Sassoon comments that Owen's feelings towards him seem to extend further than mere hero-worship.

Anderson – Anderson is another patient at Craiglockhart War hospital. Once a surgeon, Anderson’s experiences of war have made it impossible to continue practising medicine because he now hates the sight of blood after experiencing a mental breakdown.

Sarah Lumb – Sarah is a completely fictional character. The girlfriend of the character Billy Prior, she is working-class, "Geordie", and works in a munitions factory in Scotland producing armaments for British soldiers. Ada Lumb, her mother, appears briefly and has a very hardened attitude towards love and relationships.

Dr. Lewis Yealland – A foil to Rivers, Yealland is based on a doctor of that name at the National Hospital in London who used electro-shock therapy to treat his patients. Yealland is portrayed as arrogant and uncaring. He believes that the characters that breakdown during the war are “weak” and says that they would break down in civilian life anyway.

Callan – Callan is a patient of Dr. Yealland who has served in every major battle in World War I. He finds himself in the care of Dr. Yealland after suffering from mutism. Callan tries to fight against his doctor's treatment but eventually gives in to it.

Robert Graves – Another real life character, Graves is a fellow poet and friend of Sassoon who sees the war as unjust and immoral. However, Graves does not want to make his life more difficult by protesting. Graves sees it as his duty to serve his country regardless of his own moral beliefs.