Gender Roles - Regeneration

How are gender roles presented in Regeneration?

By being centered at the height of the First World War, ‘Regeneration’ would be expected to include characters that complied to the traditional roles of their class and gender at the time. The soldiers, expected to be the height of masculinity; brave heroes showing little to no fear. The doctors, composed and intelligent, their main priority: to cure the soldiers and officers sent from the front line so that they could be sent back to fight for the country. The women, longing after their husbands, brothers, relatives who were fighting on the front line, still keeping the house and children in check whilst aiding the country as best they can. However, Pat Barker’s ‘Regeneration’ twists these stereotypes considerably, creating a new perspective on the lives of these people during the First World War.

The soldiers are not at the height of their masculinity, nor are many of them brave. In fact, one of the things the soldiers in ‘Regeneration’ fear the most is being emasculated. It indicates the powerless that the soldiers felt when they realised the true horrors of war. Emasculation is presented in the novel through a variety of characters and their personal experiences. Sasson remembers a young boy next to him, castrated on the battlefield, who “couldn’t have been more than nineteen”. This young soldier has had his masculinity forcibly removed by the war, leaving his completely emasculated. Billy Prior, perhaps the character that fears the removal of his masculinity the most, shares the details of his childhood, regarding his disapproving father and overbearing mother. While his elective mutism initially prevents him from speaking, Mr Prior, Billy’s father, informs Rivers that Billy’s voice “comes when it’s convenient and goes when it isn’t”, indicating that the elective mutism if a defence mechanism in order to protect his masculinity. When he eventually starts speaking to Rivers, it is not to answer any of the questions Rivers poses, but to inform him of his want for hypnosis, as he “[doesn’t] agree with the treatment” that Rivers offers. By being under hypnosis, Prior can unleash his suppressed feelings in a way that detaches him from his own emotions and mind, leaving him with the feeling of high masculinity still intact. Having come from a lower class background and having to work his way up the ranks to officer, Prior often faces criticism and torment…