Strange Meeting, Susan Hill (1971)
- Created by: GeorgiaDix
- Created on: 16-01-23 12:51
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- Plot
- The novel starts with Hilliard, an officer at home in hospital. We follow him while he is on sick leave and see his frustration with his parents and sister who are blind to the horrors of war and have no desire to have their eyes opened.
- Hilliard goes back to the front where he is billeted with Barton, an officer he has not worked alongside before.Barton is new to the war and initially enthusiastic. The horrors he witnesses and is part of quickly harden him to the war and his outlook changes.
- Strange Meeting, Susan Hill (1971)
- Themes
- friendship
- Hill presents how quickly intimate bonds are formed between the men. They live in close quarters and share horrific experiences that encourages friendship to form.
- Some argue there is something almost homoerotic about the B&H friendship, showing the intense need for friendship to cope with the hardships of war.
- death
- death is ubiquitous in the text and we almost become hardened to it as Barton does
- It is interesting to see Barton blame himself for the death of others, even when he is blameless. This links to friendship/ comradeship in many ways, showing the care soldiers felt for each other
- friendship
- links
- Links to ‘Little Song’ in the absurdity of war and how men are replaceable.
- Compares to ‘i sing of Olaf’ in terms of SM centring on love of fellow man rather than abuse of.
- Link to fraternity in Wipers - showcases the importance of it..
- Structurally, links to Birdsong in that like Faulks, Hill structures her novel in parts. This seems to happen in a number of post-war texts, perhaps showing that writers have come to recognise the way war fragmented lives?
- Themes
- Realities/ horrors of war
- helps the reader understand why those friendships were so important - the connection would remind the soldiers they were still alive
- At one point the now hardened Barton writes of the soldiers being “drones” not “fighting men” showing how they recognised they were nothing more than cannon fodder.
- There is also action and sheltering in No Man’s Land that exposes the hardships of what the soldiers faced e.g. sheltering and trying to survive among the dead bodies.
- Themes
- friendship
- Hill presents how quickly intimate bonds are formed between the men. They live in close quarters and share horrific experiences that encourages friendship to form.
- Some argue there is something almost homoerotic about the B&H friendship, showing the intense need for friendship to cope with the hardships of war.
- death
- death is ubiquitous in the text and we almost become hardened to it as Barton does
- It is interesting to see Barton blame himself for the death of others, even when he is blameless. This links to friendship/ comradeship in many ways, showing the care soldiers felt for each other
- friendship
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