Now It Can Be Told · Chapter
Part VIII: For What Men Died explained
The narrator reflects on the war's psychological impact, the disillusionment of soldiers, and the growing divide between the front and home front.
What happens
The narrator reflects on the war's psychological impact, the disillusionment of soldiers, and the growing divide between the front and home front. He questions the ideals for which men died, noting the loss of liberty, the rise of doubt, and the inevitable social revolution brewing in Europe.
Themes in this chapter
Postwar Disillusionment
Soldiers question the ideals they fought for, feeling betrayed by the home front and the leadership.
Propaganda and Deception
The narrator critiques the false narratives of liberty and the gap between official rhetoric and reality.
Class and Inequality
The unequal sharing of sacrifice and the disdain for profiteers and the privileged class are highlighted.
Loss of Innocence
Young idealists who believed in the war to end war gradually lose their faith as doubts and horrors accumulate.
Characters to notice
- Unknown Narrator
The narrator reflects on the war's psychology and the motives of the men who fought.
- Henri Barbusse
Mentioned as the author of 'Le Feu', contrasting his unrelieved blackness with the narrator's balanced portrayal.
- The British
The British soldier's experience on leave and the public's misunderstanding of trench life are described.
- The Germans
Referred to as the enemy, but also as individuals who loathed the war yet obeyed discipline.
- Kaiser Bill
Mentioned in the context of Bairnsfather's 'Ole Bill' and the public's perception of the enemy.
- The Officer
Officers returning from leave express bitterness and disillusionment about the war's purpose.
- The Colonel
Implied in the reference to the chaplain seeking permission from a general to withdraw men.
- Death
The constant presence of death is highlighted, especially the fate of the nineteen men killed at Arras.
Key passages
“I have not painted the picture blacker than it was, nor selected gruesome morsels and joined them together to make a jigsaw puzzle for ghoulish delight.”
I have not exaggerated the horrors or compiled them just to shock.
The narrator defends his balanced portrayal of war.
“The old gangs are organizing a new system of defense, building a new kind of Hindenburg line behind which they are dumping their political ammunition.”
The old ruling powers are constructing new defenses to maintain control.
Metaphor for political resistance to change.
“The soldier on leave saw crowds of people taking shelter in underground railways, workingmen among them, sturdy lads, panic-stricken. But for his own wife and children he had an evil sense of satisfaction in these sights. It would do them good.”
The soldier felt a grim satisfaction that civilians were finally experiencing a fraction of the danger.
Illustrates the growing resentment between soldiers and civilians.
“They had been told that they were fighting for liberty. But their first lesson was the utter loss of individual liberty under a discipline which made the private soldier no more than a number.”
The promise of liberty was contradicted by the harsh discipline that stripped soldiers of their individuality.
Highlights the irony and disillusionment of the soldiers.
“Surely if the leaders of the warring nations were put together for even a week in some such place as Hooge, or the Hohenzollern redoubt, afflicted by the usual harassing fire, poison-gas, mine explosions, lice, rats, and the stench of rotting corpses, with the certainty of death or dismemberment at the weekend, they would settle the business and come to terms before the week was out.”
If the leaders had to endure the same conditions as the soldiers, they would quickly make peace.
A common argument among soldiers about the absurdity of the war.
