XVII explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• War and Guerrilla Tactics

  Garland teaches Bedouin demolition of railways and telegraphs; Feisal's forces harass Turkish communications and capture convoys.

• Suffering and Endurance

  Garland's poor health and weak heart do not deter him from his dangerous work; Lawrence reluctantly accepts a role he dislikes.

• Colonialism and Imperialism

  British officers direct the Arab war effort, with Lawrence sent to link Feisal to British interests and notify Egypt of his needs.

Characters to notice

• T.E. Lawrence

  Reluctantly returns to Arabia to advise Feisal, despite hating responsibility and soldiering.

• Emir Feisal

  Has moved to Wadi Yenbo, organizing his forces and considering an expedition to take Wejh.

• Sherif Zeid

  Feisal's young half-brother, moving up from Rabegh to Wadi Safra as a nominal subordinate of Sherif Ali.

• Sherif Ali ibn el Hussein

  Commands about three thousand Arab infantry at Rabegh, with regulars under Aziz el Masri.

• Sherif Abdulla

  Left Mecca on November 12, now blockading Medina from Henakiyeh with about four thousand men.

• Aziz el Masri

  Commands the regular Arab infantry in khaki under Sherif Ali.

• Emir Abd el Kader el Jezairi

  Feisal's governor at Yenbo, handling stores systematically and efficiently.

• Garland

  Teaching demolition to the Bedouin at Yenbo; has poor health but persists in his work.

Key passages

• “Clayton a few days later told me to return to Arabia and Feisal. This being much against my grain I urged my complete unfitness for the job: said I hated responsibility⁠—obviously the position of a conscientious adviser would be responsible⁠—and that in all my life objects had been gladder to me than persons, and ideas than objects.”

  Clayton ordered Lawrence back to Arabia, but Lawrence protested, claiming he was unsuited for the role because he disliked responsibility and preferred objects and ideas over people.

  Lawrence expresses his reluctance to take on the advisory role.

• “Garland was an enquirer in physics, and had years of practical knowledge of explosives. He had his own devices for mining trains and felling telegraphs and cutting metals; and his knowledge of Arabic and freedom from the theories of the ordinary sapper-school enabled him to teach the art of demolition to unlettered Beduin in a quick and ready way.”

  Garland, a physicist with practical explosive expertise, used his own methods to teach Bedouin how to destroy trains and telegraphs, unconstrained by conventional military theory.

  Garland's unconventional teaching style and expertise in demolition.

• “His health was poor and the climate made him regularly ill. A weak heart troubled him after any strenuous effort or crisis; but he treated these troubles as freely as he did detonators, and persisted till he had derailed the first train and broken the first culvert in Arabia.”

  Despite poor health and a weak heart worsened by the climate, Garland treated his ailments as casually as explosives and continued until he achieved the first train derailment and culvert destruction in Arabia.

  Garland's determination despite physical frailty.