“He thought it disproportionate in its violence considering the fragility of us.”
Inspired by his experiences as an infantryman Jones conveys the magnitude of the Great War through the eyes of the characters. The post-traumatic stress disorder suffered owing to the horrors of the First World War were uncharted territory for combatants and society in general. In the quote, the narrator asserts that man was not prepared psychologically to handle the terror of such warfare hence it took away a lot from him. In a modernist tone, Jones offers the absurdity of warfare and the changing society as the individual grapples with the change.
“For they were unseasoned, nor inured, not knowing this to be much less than the beginning of sorrow.”
The Great War lasted for a startling period of time that was unexpected during the onset of the conflict. Modernist poets took upon themselves to voice the societal decay and senseless violence that they would be accustomed to thereof. In the aftermath of the war and on the verge of a second one, civilization underwent a paradigm shift that would affect the collective consciousness. In the quote, the narrator that the change altered society entirely never to be what it was before the carnage. In essence humanity was not seasoned for this period that would change the fabric of their beliefs.
“They said no word but to direct their immediate next coming, so close behind to blunder, toe by heel tripping, file-mates; blind following, moving with a singular identity.”
Jones highlights warfare had the power to convert individual men into a single entity against a patriotic cause. Consequently, a sacrifice of private experience or singular thought for a group mentality following orders. However, amid such violence and horror that singular identity befits the situation as the sense of camaraderie meant shared pain and suffering. Though they grapple with their own mortality in the face of loss, the collectiveness on the front show the power of humanity.
