World War One
The key theme of the novel is World War One, rather than the more generic theme of "war". This is because most of the effects of "war", and the events that happen because of it, are specifically related to issues that arose out of World War One that in many other wars were just not issues at all.The theme is also largely to do with the change in public perception to and support of the war.
For example, even the strongest critics of World War Two never claimed that the country was ill-prepared to participate in it, but this was precisely the criticism that was leveled against participation in World War One, and justifiably so, given that by 1917, when the novel takes place, most of the officers leading me on the battlefield, in the trenches and through some of the of the most poorly strategized battles in military history had little to no experience or training. Most had no equipment; Troops were ordered into battles that were un-winnable, and men were basically cannon fodder as the war neared its close.
At the beginning of World War One, there was overwhelming public support for it, and everyone wanted to be involved in the war effort. This enthusiasm explains why Kingsley is ostracized so much, even by his own family. There was incredible shame heaped on conscientious objectors, and they at least were prevented by their consciences from participating - their refusal to fight was directed by their moral code and religious beliefs. Not so Kingsley - it was his sense of logic that was offended by the war, not his sense of right and wrong. The public at large simply could not comprehend a man whose dereliction of duty was because of his intellectual snobbery.
The war also created a terrifying number of victims of what was then called "shell shock" - similar to post traumatic stress disorder, it was a mental unraveling that was believed to be caused by the explosion of bombs and shells around a soldier. A man suffering from shell shock would be sent back to England to recover, and this is what had happened to Viscount Abercrombie. This again was something specific to World War One. Even the locations are thematically connected to World War One; Kingsley's investigation takes place in Flanders, where Abercrombie had most recently been deployed.
Cowardice
One of the themes of the novel is cowardice, chiefly, what it is and what it is not. Kingsley was thought to be a coward because he was too much of an intellectual snob to agree with war as it flew in the face of what he believed to be his superior understanding of logic. It was hard to agree with a man who was academically opposed to becoming a soldier, rather than ethically opposed to it, and he was put on trial and imprisoned for cowardice and desertion. Even his own wife and family believed him to be a coward, and the shame heaped on them by association was too much to bear.
Conscientious objectors are also seen as cowards by the public at large; they were usually Quakers, but almost always driven to refuse to fight by their religious or spiritual beliefs. They were generally branded cowards but there was also a quiet courage in their actions, because the "easier" thing would have been to become a soldier, just like everyone else. To stand up for their beliefs, even when they knew their lives would be ruined because of it, was actually very courageous, and even though the perception of the "conchie" was that he was a coward, the truth was actually somewhat opposite.
Anything other than sacrificing oneself for the greater good was seen as cowardice in the eyes of the psychopathic Captain Shannon. He considers post traumatic stress disorder to be a form of cowardice and is of the opinion that only a coward would be unable to mentally withstand what was happening around them on the front. He is deeply disdainful of any man repatriated for treatment and recovery and although he is the extreme end of the spectrum in the way he expresses his opinions it can be seen from Kingsley's conversations with others as well that this was a pervading opinion in the country as well.
Shell Shock
Shell Shock was the term used for the medically unexplained unraveling of a man's mental state whilst serving on the front in World War One. The term refers to the exploding of bombs and mortar shells around the men, which was believed to have a negative affect on them neurologically, although the medical profession was unable to say what this was. Shell Shock was not treated by psychiatrists, but by brain specialists. Later in the war, leaders began to wonder if SheAll Shock wasn't just some kind of fear of being involved in the fighting, and they began to bring in psychiatrists to write letters of recommendation for their return to the field. If their brain was physically intact and they were medically able to serve, most men with Shell Shock were returned to the front fairly quickly.
Shell Shock is now considered to have been post traumatic stress disorder, although it was not understood at the time, and even if it had been, would probably have been swept under the rug, because the early part of the twentieth century was not exactly a time of great belief in psychological disorders beyond the distinction between madness and sanity. PTSD would have been viewed as cowardice, or reluctance to serve; citizens were "called up" for the war, even when they were not military men at all. Nobody wanted to fight and nobody wanted their loved ones to get killed in battle, and so logically those with relatives who were fighting, or who had been killed, were resentful and suspicious of those with shell shock.
There was a kind of heroism in being declared medically unfit to return to the front if a man was missing a limb, or had a visible injury; a mental disorder was easy to see if a man's skull was shattered, a common injury sustained in World War One; however, PTSD was impossible to see and so the majority did not believe in it. Shell Shock was seen as something rather convenient that a man should get over rather than as a serious condition that needed immediate treatment. As Abercrombie begins to doubt the war, and to reflect this new viewpoint in his poetry, he is considered to have faked his shell shock as an excuse to come home.
War Poets
It is believed that the author based Viscount Abercrombie on the real-life war poet Siegfried Sassoon, who was an esteemed poet prior to the war, and a leading exponent of the genre War Poetry afterwards. He was a conundrum of a man; initially fully behind the war, he changed his mind as time went on and he saw the senseless waste of young life going on around him. The importance of the War Poets is emphasized by the fact that Abercrombie is known to be one. They are the frontline reporters of their day and their work endures a century later.
Homosexuality
Abercrombie, Kingsley learns, was a homosexual man, although he was fully in the closet as far as his public face went. At the time, homosexuality was accepted as a fact, but was not discussed, and was not public. This is another factor that supports the suggestion that Abercrombie was based on Sassoon as the latter was also a closet homosexual.
Surprisingly homosexuality in the early part of the Twentieth Century was not criminalized in the same way as it was later on, in the nineteen fifties and sixties, but it was seen as something that a married man, or an influential one, might want to hide, and it was definitely something that one might be blackmailed over.
