The Good Soldier is often classified as a psychological novel due to its profound exploration of the characters' inner lives and motivations. Novels in this genre foreground discussions of the interior fears and conflicts of the people they describe. The narrative of this book delves deep into the psychology of its central characters, particularly those of Edward Ashburnham, John Dowell, and their wives Leonora and Florence. It meticulously examines their intricate emotional states, their hidden desires, and the underlying reasons behind their choices and actions. It also thinks carefully about the nature of masculinity and asks questions about the effect gender roles have on people’s ability to live freely and express themselves.
As a piece of modernist literature, The Good Soldier is also fragmented, experimental, and somewhat pessimistic about the state of global affairs. It features a nonlinear narrative structure, as the narrator’s fragmented storytelling jumps between different time periods and regularly changes its mind about the importance of events. The stream of consciousness technique Ford uses provides readers with immediate access to John’s unfiltered thoughts, allowing for a deep exploration of his inner world. The narrative also grapples with the idea of fallible subjectivity, as John's inconsistent—and somewhat absolutely untruthful or unfair—responses to things highlight the shifting nature of what is real and what is not. This element of the novel reflects the broader early-20th-century concern with a world people saw as being on the brink of collapse.
Although it's not conventionally “romantic,” The Good Soldier is also aligned with many elements of the tragic romance genre. The relationships at the heart of the novel are full of betrayal, infidelity, and moral ambiguity. The novel begins with several characters in important and lasting relationships, and as it progresses, those relationships dissolve and fracture. Like many tragic romances, the ending is also unsatisfactory and sad, as narrative threads are tied together in a way that doesn't truly benefit any of the characters. It’s a book full of love, death and disappointment.
