Disenchantment · Chapter
II: Misgiving explained
The chapter explores the early disillusionment of the New Army recruits during training in 1914-1915, as their initial idealism and trust in authority figures—especially the Old Army sergeants—begins to erode through petty corruption, incom
What happens
The chapter explores the early disillusionment of the New Army recruits during training in 1914-1915, as their initial idealism and trust in authority figures—especially the Old Army sergeants—begins to erode through petty corruption, incompetence, and systemic neglect. The narrator recounts incidents such as a sergeant-major leading recruits to a pub instead of drilling them, a gilded youth being scammed for bayonet lessons, and the pervasive sense that pastors and masters are frauds. The chapter also critiques the home front's hypocrisy, the waste of potential, and the growing suspicion that the war effort is mismanaged.
Themes in this chapter
Disillusionment and Disenchantment
The chapter explicitly traces the 'first shiver of disillusion' among New Army recruits as their idealistic trust in authority and the war effort is shattered by petty corruption, incompetence, and hypocrisy.
Critique of Authority and Institutions
The narrator criticizes the Old Army sergeants, the War Office, politicians, and the home front's 'fancy-dress ball of noncombatant khaki,' portraying them as self-serving and fraudulent.
Loss of Innocence and Illusion
The recruits' initial 'boundless illusions' about the war and their leaders are systematically eroded, symbolized by the sergeant-major's pub session and the scammed bayonet lessons.
Propaganda and Deception
The chapter highlights how the 'pastors and masters' used propaganda to inspire enlistment, but the reality of training and home-front hypocrisy leads the men to believe 'in the lump pastors and masters were frauds.'
Characters to notice
- Unknown Narrator
The narrator observes and reflects on the disillusionment of the New Army, recounting specific incidents and the general mood of the troops.
- Little Flanigan
Mentioned as a recruit who, along with others, is left waiting on the kerb while the sergeant-major drinks in a pub.
- Bates
Referenced as one of the recruits standing on the kerb during the sergeant-major's pub session.
- L⸺
Cited as a recruit who quotes a Conservative statesman: 'I believe we shall win, in spite of the Regular Army.'
- Kitchener
Mentioned as the one man in high place whom the New Army believed to be straight and 'a tryer,' and rumored to be targeted by a league of sloths and jobbers.
- Colonel Repington
His confessional diary is referenced as revealing the underworld of posturers and shirkers that the New Army suspected.
- Shakespeare
Alluded to through the quote 'Were it not better done as others use?' and the reference to Mercutio's wound.
- Ancient Pistol
Mentioned as part of the Shakespearean analogy: 'Shall we have Henries, Fluellens, and Erpinghams... and no Bardolphs, Pistols, and Nyms?'
Key passages
“Where, then, did the first shiver of disillusion begin? Perhaps with some trivial incident.”
The narrator asks where the initial loss of faith started, suggesting it may have been a small, seemingly insignificant event.
This opening line sets the theme of the chapter, exploring the gradual erosion of the New Army's idealism.
“A child who has rashly taken its parent on trust, and yet more rashly taken the parent’s all-round perfection as some sort of sample and proof of a creditable government of the world, must have a good deal of mental rearrangement to do the first time the parent comes home full of liquor and sells the furniture to get some more.”
The disillusionment of the recruits is compared to a child who trusted their parent completely, only to discover the parent is fallible and destructive.
This metaphor encapsulates the emotional impact of discovering that authority figures are corrupt or incompetent.
“From any English training-camp, about that time, you almost seemed to see a light steam rising, as it does from a damp horse. This was illusion beginning to evaporate.”
The narrator observes that the recruits' illusions were visibly dissipating, like steam rising from a wet horse.
This vivid image concludes the chapter's exploration of the loss of innocence and the onset of disillusionment.
