Disenchantment · Chapter
XVI: Fair Warning explained
The narrator reflects on the post-war decline in war's popularity among the well-to-do, who now experience minor inconveniences as a result of the war's toll.
What happens
The narrator reflects on the post-war decline in war's popularity among the well-to-do, who now experience minor inconveniences as a result of the war's toll. He warns that war may come back into fashion, as it did after the Napoleonic Wars, driven by romanticizers like Stevenson and Henley. He argues that ex-soldiers are the strongest peace party and must bind future poets and romancers with the League of Nations. The chapter ends with a satirical alarm about the dangers of peace, which might deprive souls of the 'discipline' of war, and a hope that the counter-reaction of those who have actually experienced war will prevent its return.
Themes in this chapter
Disillusionment and Disenchantment
The narrator describes the post-war realization that war has not delivered on its promises, leading to a sense of fallen temperature and loss of material comfort.
Critique of Authority and Institutions
The chapter criticizes the romanticizers of war (poets, romancers, sages) and the press for potentially reigniting war fever, and satirizes the idea that war provides moral discipline.
Propaganda and Deception
The narrator warns of the 'vendors of supposedly popular stuff' and 'timid gregarious repeaters of current banalities' who may promote peace insincerely, and of future poets who may romanticize war again.
Psychology of War
Explores the psychological cycle of war's fashion, from romantic longing to disillusionment, and the role of ex-soldiers as a peace party.
Characters to notice
- Unknown Narrator
The narrator reflects on the post-war decline in war's popularity, warns of its potential return, and satirizes those who romanticize war.
- Henley
Cited as a cripple who wrote a longing 'Song of the Sword,' representing the romanticization of war.
- Stevenson
Mentioned as a consumptive who sighed for war, exemplifying the literary yearning for violence.
- Mr. Tappertit
Quoted as thinking 'If I had been born a corsair or a pirate... I should have been all right,' illustrating the romantic fantasy of war.
- Ancient Pistol
Referenced for the line 'What? Shall we have incision? Shall we imbrue?' as a recurring call to war.
- Gough
Mentioned as one who stands up for peace alongside ex-soldiers.
- Henley
Again referenced as a future voice that might pipe up for war, along with Lang.
- Mr. Andrew Lang
Mentioned as a potential future romanticizer of war.
Key passages
“Thus does war in the end, knock at the doors of us all: like the roll of the earth upon its axis, it brings us, if not death or destitution or some ashy taste in the mouth, at any rate a sense of a fallen temperature in our bunks.”
War eventually affects everyone, if not through death or poverty, then through a general decline in comfort and quality of life.
The narrator uses a metaphor to describe the pervasive, inescapable impact of war on daily life.
“Ah, happy vision, beautiful dream!—like Thackeray’s reverie about having a very old and rich aunt. The dreamer awakes among the snows of the Mont Cenis with a horrid smell in the corridor and the hot-water pipes out of order.”
The pre-war fantasy that war would leave comforts intact and even improve society is shattered by the harsh realities of post-war life.
Satirizes the naive optimism of the well-to-do who expected war to be painless and profitable.
“It was the very lambs that began it. “Shall we never have carnage?” Stevenson, the consumptive, sighed to a friend. Henley, the cripple, wrote a longing “Song of the Sword.” Out of the weak came forth violence.”
The call for war came from the most unlikely, frail individuals, who romanticized violence from a distance.
Highlights the irony that those who never experienced war were its loudest advocates.
“War hath no fury like a noncombatant.”
Those who have not fought are often the most passionate advocates for war.
A pithy warning about the danger of armchair warriors.
