Regeneration: Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis

Rivers meets with Prior, who regained his voice in the midst of one of his nightmares. However, Prior is still extremely reticent to share any information about himself, other than that he worked as a shipping clerk before the war and was previously diagnosed as a neurasthenic before being sent to Craiglockhart. Prior resents that Rivers only ever asks questions, and remarks that Rivers seems more like a “strip of empathic wallpaper” than a person, which Rivers finds amusing. However, when it is clear that Prior will not cooperate, Rivers turns to leave. Prior is upset by this, and briefly tells him of the week before he he was hospitalized, when his unit was made to continually put themselves in danger for no other reason than the “pride of the British army.” When their hour finishes, Rivers tells him that he will see him again tomorrow.

Rivers meets with Sassoon and they discuss the young officer’s interactions with pacifism. Despite what Graves insisted, Sassoon doesn’t feel that he was influenced much by Bertrand Russell, but more perhaps by Edward Carpenter and his book The Intermediate Sex, which he feels saved his life and helped him see that he “wasn’t just a freak.” Rivers notes that he’s read the book, but wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it. Sassoon also met the pacifist Robert Ross, but knew that Ross, as a friend of Oscar Wilde, was so intent on keeping his head down that he wouldn’t dare promote something like Sassoon’s declaration. Rivers suggests that perhaps keeping one’s head down is a good idea, since many might try to use gross personal attacks to discredit Sassoon, which Rivers does not want to see happen.

Though Rivers intends to spend the afternoon on paperwork, Prior’s father arrives at Craiglockhart unannounced. Prior’s father is brash and completely dismissive of Prior’s condition, stating that he thinks the mutism is just a convenient way to hide. The man also resents his son for being an officer, for having any aspirations beyond his own blue-collar life, stating that his mother is the root cause of all that reaching. Rivers notes that the man has no feeling other than “contempt” for his son, which is confirmed when Prior’s father says he might be the least bit sympathetic if Prior had actually been hit by a bullet.

After Prior’s father leaves, Prior’s mother enters, apologizing for her husband’s behavior. She explains that her husband resents their son for being different, though she did her best to teach him to reach for a better life for himself and consider himself dignified. Rivers gathers that Prior both loves and resents his mother’s encouragement and mentoring.

After Prior’s mother leaves, “Captain” Broadbent (who is a doctor) arrives—Rivers resents any of the doctors there, including himself, being referred to as officers as if they were soldiers, even though they technically are. Broadbent is arrogant, vain, and showered with recognition for all sorts of accomplishments that aren’t entirely true. Rivers hates him. The fellow doctor is there to ask Rivers to put in a good word for Broadbent with Bryce, so that Broadbent can go visit his supposedly ailing mother. Rivers refuses, and Broadbent is bitter.

In the evening, while most of the patients are watching a Charlie Chaplin film in a screening room, Rivers finds Prior alone in a dark sitting room, white knuckled and wheezing. Prior mentions that the other patient’s smoking set him coughing, and Rivers realizes he has asthma and is surprised he was allowed military service with it. The young man bemoans the fact that Rivers had to meet his parents, but Rivers brushes it off. Before he leaves, Prior asks if a towel can be tied to his bedframe, since the asthma gets worse in the night and it’s helpful for him to have something to hold onto. Rivers obliges, and asks a nurse to wake him if his breathing gets any worse while he sleeps.