Alienation vs. Belonging Theme Analysis

Having experienced so much chaos, violence, and trauma on the front lines in France, many of the soldiers in Regeneration have difficulty living in the civilian world in Scotland, feeling as if they no longer belong there or share anything in common with other civilians. The novel suggests that for many soldiers, their combat experience makes them feel alienated from society, leaving them with an intense need to feel that they belong to something.

Even after leaving the violence at the front, several officers in the story find it difficult to re-enter society and assimilate into civilian life, suggesting that soldiers’ traumatic experiences can make them feel alienated from the comparatively peaceful, unassuming civilian population. Sassoon admits that although he no longer hates the enemy German soldiers, he now hates his own country’s civilians for not understanding the true horror of the war they tend to support. While Prior is visiting the beach with his girlfriend Sarah, he looks at the other beachgoers and finds himself despising them for how happy they look, while he himself is haunted by memories of picking up pieces of his troops’ disintegrated bodies. Prior feels that all the happy civilians somehow “owed him something,” suggesting again that the traumatic experience of war can leave soldiers feeling at odds with their own people. Similarly, although Burns is discharged from the military and lives a civilian’s life once again, his frequent night terrors and inability to cope with much of his war trauma leave him at least partially isolated. Although as a young man he ought to be going on dates, building a career, and making a name for himself, Burns instead must live alone, barely able to care for himself let alone anyone else. This again suggests the tragic manner in which wartime experiences leave soldiers isolated from average citizens.

However, in spite of this feeling of alienation, those same characters seek out new ways to belong to some sort of community. This behavior suggests that even though soldiers may struggle to reintegrate into society, it is possible, and they may yet find some manner of belonging. Although Prior struggles to not despise other civilians, his relationship with Sarah, herself a civilian, ultimately grounds him and helps him to see that people who have not experienced the same trauma he has can ultimately be a safe “haven for him,” a symbolic shelter where he can forget about the horrors of war. However, Prior also wishes to be “known as deeply as possible” which would require telling Sarah everything he has seen and thus breaking that shelter. This suggests that although Prior has found a sense of safety and belonging in his relationship with Sarah, it is not a perfect solution. Burns, on the other hand, slowly begins to recover his sense of belonging by trying to learn new handcrafting skills from anyone who will teach him, including the town drunk. Although he is still haunted by his wartime experiences, this human connection and sense of shared goals gives Burns an important point of contact with the civilian world, helping him to belong to even a part of it by small degrees. Tragically, Sassoon proclaims, “I think the army’s probably the only place I’ve ever really belonged,” and in spite of his protests against the war, returns to fight alongside his men at the front—hoping, Rivers believes, to die there. Sassoon’s witnessing of the war’s atrocities and society’s general disregard for the horrors it has inflicted on young men causes Sassoon to feel that the soldier’s lot is the only one for him. Sassoon’s disenfranchisement from society seems only exacerbated by his homosexuality—setting him at odds with the social norms of civilian life in yet another way. Although Sassoon’s return to combat seems tragic, it ultimately offers him a greater sense of belonging among the only people he seems to still respect in the world: fellow soldiers. This is likely more than he would have ever found if he had been court-martialed as a conscientious objector as he originally hoped, and offers resolution to Sassoon’s feelings of alienation, even though it is a dark ending.

Regeneration suggests that returning to the civilian world is a major struggle for soldiers, especially soldiers experiencing such horrors as occur in World War I, and that each must find their own way to restore a sense of belonging to a group—be it a family, a community, or even an ideal.