Henry Head is Rivers’s former co-worker and longtime personal friend. While they both worked as researchers in Cambridge, Head intentionally severed the radial nerve in his arm so that he and Rivers could study its regeneration process. Part of the study involved Rivers stabbing Head’s arm with a pin, causing immense pain for the purpose of science and healing, and the ethical dilemma Rivers felt at the time parallels his current dilemma of leading patients to painfully recall traumatic memories for the purpose of processing and moving past them. When Rivers visits Head during his medical leave, Head offers him a job in London as a psychologist for pilots.
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Henry Head Character Timeline in Regeneration
The timeline below shows where the character Henry Head appears in Regeneration. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 5
Rivers takes a notepad and writes that he dreamt about his work with Dr. Head at St. John’s, testing nerve sensitivity on Head’s arm with a pin. Head cries in...
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Chapter 14
Rivers walks down a country road with Head’s wife Ruth, as she tells him about what life has been like in Cambridge while...
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That evening, after dinner, when Rivers speaks of missing London, Head tells Rivers that there is a job in London waiting for him, as a psychologist...
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Chapter 16
...“subdue[s]” Sassoon and he returns the hat to its peg on the wall. Rivers mentions Head’s job offer to Bryce, and Bryce strongly encourages him to take it, though Rivers is...
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Chapter 20
Rivers moves to work with the RFC alongside Head in Cambridge. There are air raids periodically and everyone in Rivers’s lodging huddles in the...
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Chapter 23
Rivers meets with Head, who tries to convince him that all this self-accusation is insane; Rivers is the exact...
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When Head remarks that Rivers seems changed, Rivers agrees, and recounts how, after an anthropological trip to...
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