This document provides a detailed analysis of a quote from Pat Barker’s book ‘Regeneration’. It is an excellent resource both for people studying this book and for other Literature students looking for how to conduct detailed quote analysis.
This quote can be argued to link to the key theme of internal conflict faced by soldiers. Whilst not an obvious source of
internal conflict (like Sassoon or Rivers’ moral dilemmas), Prior is shown to be conflicted over the new role of women in
society. This is shown by the phrase ‘didn’t know’ which suggests a lack of certainty and that he is perhaps in two minds
about her. This is enforced by the verb ‘think’ which implies that he is trying to form an opinion of her and struggling to do so.
When considering the role of women in WW1 and how much it changed from the beginning of the war to the end of the war,
the reader is able to recognise this internal conflict for Billy Prior as he has returned home to a situation that is different to
what he knew before. This could perhaps be argued to make the already emasculating situation of suffering from shellshock
worse as soldiers were seeing women in jobs that were previously male-dominated.
The quote deals with themes of masculinity - particularly focusing on the role of men in society and how suffering from neurasthenia (or
shellshock) was emasculating for men. The men are said to have ‘shrunk’ which implies that they have become smaller and weaker over
the course of the war. This differs from what men expected from the war when enlisting and shows that their hopes of glory have not
materialised. Furthermore, this quote is referencing Prior and the verb ‘shrunk’ could be said to reflect his feelings about his illness. Prior
throughout is shown to avoid his feelings as he feels emasculated and this is emphasised by ‘shrunk’ as it implies that he feels smaller or
less than due to his struggle with shellshock.
The structure of the line also emphasises the point Barker is making about emasculation. ‘Women’ and jow they have ‘expanded’ are
mentioned first and the ‘men’ having ‘shrunk’ is second suggesting that men felt as though they were less than women due to their
experiences at war and that women now played a greater role in society at home.
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