To what extent does Birdsong communicate the devastation caused by conflict?
In the novel Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks, conflict is represented throughout the novel using a variation of types of conflicts. Birdsong follows the life of the protagonist Stephen Wraysford from the build-up of the war in France 1910. It then follows him throughout WW1 and has parts where his granddaughter Elizabeth Benson is trying to uncover his past. Physical devastation is mostly represented. However, the crisis of masculinity, class conflict, the loss of faith and the devastation of nature are embodied in the novel. The book is set in the heat of WW1 starting in France 1916 to France 1918 then has contrasting parts in England in 1978-79. There are common themes within Birdsong such as; actual birdsong, love, social support and obviously conflict.
As the book is set during WW1, there are considerable amounts of physical devastation. Faulks depicts the psychical devastation of war throughout the novel realistically, this is because he uses graphic detailed language when describing the tragic war scenes Stephen witnesses’. We can see this in the text where he describes “the MO used a knife to cut them off the flesh.” The way Faulks uses the word “flesh” is a lot more vivid and it gives imagery of the flesh being stretched from the body with the clothes. We know from the novel that the men went weeks if not months without washing and how their socks were commonly stuck to their feet. Still, Faulks does use another contrasting type of physical devastation earlier in the novel, in part one, Azaire beating Isabelle, this however this has little impact compared to the devastation later on in the novel, but it could be interpreted as foreboding for what is to come later in the novel. The start of WW1 welcomes a new type warfare, chemical warfare. Which was poison gas, it took so many lives and was so painful to experience. Roughly 9% of English troops were affected by the gas and “The Russian Army suffered 419,340 casualties from gas warfare with 56,000 deaths. The United States suffered 72,807 and 1,462 deaths.”[1]The Poison gas was used to demobilize the soldiers in the First World War. It could blind them cause terrible side effects. The imagery in the text reflects this perfectly; when Faulks describes the man in the hospital whose mouth is open and cannot scream. “He was trying to scream His mouth was pulled open and the sinews of his neck were stretched, but some throat condition appeared to prevent any sound from issuing.” A similar occurrence is reflected in Wilfred Owen’s poem ‘Dulce et Decorum Est.’[2] it reads “Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs” this coincides with the line “bringing a yellow froth from his lips.” The way the both are linked shows how devastating the use of gas was to the victims and the witnesses. The gruesome language Faulks uses to describe the war enables us to vividly create an image of devastation both of nature and of physical devastation. We can see that this opinion is shared among other readers of the book, this amazon review of Birdsong from a reviewer called Bibliophage they said “I felt he captured the confusion of battle, the deprivations they endured and the human tragedy unfolding around them…”
Another way in which Faulks represents conflict would be the way he depicts the psychological devastation within the soldiers as the war progresses. Weir is one of the most noticeable characters who is showing symptoms of psychological devastation during the course of the war. “Weir’s hands were shaking as he took the bottle”, he is trying to pour a drink for himself and Stephen. The impact the war has on Weir can be reflected in his inability to start to talk to people highlighted with his “inability to talk sensibly” about the things he has seen, even his parents which happens in part four. Physical devastation can also be reflected in the novel when Stephen has an ‘episode’ in the brothel when he is on leave in France during part two. He has taken Weir there, and Stephen sleeps with the younger girl, he visualises a dead comrades body as her own “the ribs and spine, he thought of the shell casing that had stuck from Reeves’s abdomen; he thought of the hole in Douglas’s shoulder” and then pulls out his knife “then ran the handle of it down between her breasts and over her thighs.” It then escalates to be even more violent “the blade pointing upwards towards her abdomen.” We know this is out of character for Stephen because normally he has quite a placid nature. We can also see cognitive breakdown in the character of old Brennen in part three when Elizabeth visits him in the home hoping to find out about her grandfather who is Stephen. Brennen is very forgetful and has no recollection of who she is. This character beautifully shows the deterioration of the mind after such traumatic events have occurred, and how the soldiers would’ve tried desperately to forget such horrendous experiences. In a critical review of Birdsong another reader empathises with the stories of the men because of Faulks’ descriptions “What’s worst is that after living on the front lines for a long time, you begin to experience a feeling of deadness. As if nothing really matters. You see your friends die one by one in front of you – or they get horribly mutilated and you just don’t care.” [3]
Finally the last way in which Faulks presents devastation caused by the war is how the ongoing conflict between the classes just gets even worse as the breakout of the war. You can see tensions rising between the bourgeoisie and proletariats in the first part of the novel in the response of the workers to Azaire and Berard’s expectations. Also the way the two men talk about the lower class shows the way they think they are so much better than everyone else. This can be reflected in Lucien Lebrun’s reaction to Stephen. Which is the reflection of Marxism within the novel. Also showing the progression of Stephen from a working class man to being in control of his own men as an infantry officer. He forms a bond with them and almost starts to love them “Stephen knew what they felt because he has been with them”. Stephen always looked on for other people in the war that were in the same position as him “Stephen was moved by the thought of his fellow countrymen fighting this foreign war.” The class conflict is represented within the ranks of the army with the lower class and working classes just being soldiers with no real responsibility at all. In a critical reading of Birdsong by Julie Ellam she also agrees that this is interpreted by Marxism “Birdsong highlights how little control those serving in the war had over their own destinies…”[4] The difference in responsibility and rank can be shown in their contrasting language in their letters home to their loved ones. “Tipper wrote: Dear mum and dad…” Tipper was of a low rank contrasting to “Michael Weir wrote Dear mother and father…” Weir was a commanding officer.
In conclusion Faulks is effective in portraying the devastation that can be caused by conflicts on such a huge scale. He does this effectively by looking at how war can have impact on society and also the impact it has on soldiers psychologically and physically.
[2] Wilfred Owen, Dulce et Decorum Est. (1920, London)
[3] http://www.bhagwad.com/blog/2012/book-reviews/book-review-sebastian-faulks-birdsong-critical-analysis.html/
[4] Julie Ellam, “Birdsong” (York Notes Advanced), (9 July 2009, London)
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