Now It Can Be Told · Chapter
VII explained
The narrator describes the war correspondents' daily life and struggles: building rapport with fighting units, witnessing the constant loss of officers and men, enduring physical hardships, and racing against time to file dispatches under c
What happens
The narrator describes the war correspondents' daily life and struggles: building rapport with fighting units, witnessing the constant loss of officers and men, enduring physical hardships, and racing against time to file dispatches under censorship. The chapter highlights the emotional toll, the camaraderie and friction among correspondents, and the public's misunderstanding of their work.
Themes in this chapter
Psychological Trauma
The narrator describes the searing emotional toll of witnessing continuous death and the desire for peace at almost any price.
Comradeship and Human Spirit
Despite friction and hatred under pressure, the correspondents were good comrades and supported each other.
Propaganda and Deception
Censors cut out key details, modified facts, and removed honors due to soldiers, reflecting the manipulation of war news.
Characters to notice
- Unknown Narrator
The narrator reflects on the emotional burden of witnessing death and the physical exhaustion of covering battles.
- Percival Phillips
Described as turning pink-and-white under strain, writing furiously for The Morning Post.
- Beach Thomas
Portrayed as an amiable, bird-nesting Peter Pan figure, bored and impatient with detail, writing for The Daily Mail.
- Frederic Palmer
Mentioned as 'grave old Palmer' in the context of the correspondents' group.
Key passages
“It was the duration of all the drama of death that seared one’s soul as an onlooker; the frightful sum of sacrifice that we were recording day by day.”
The endless spectacle of death deeply scarred the observer, as we chronicled the immense daily toll of sacrifice.
Highlights the psychological impact of witnessing prolonged war.
“We had to travel prodigiously to cover the ground between one division and another along a hundred miles of front, with long walks often at the journey’s end and a wet way back.”
We traveled vast distances to cover multiple divisions across a hundred-mile front, often ending with long walks and a wet return.
Describes the physical demands of the correspondents' work.
“There were times when I was so physically and mentally exhausted that I could hardly rouse myself to a new day’s effort.”
Sometimes I was so drained in body and mind that I could barely muster the strength for another day.
Illustrates the extreme fatigue faced by war correspondents.