Year 12 IB Extended Essays 2018

Page 3 Candidate Number: FYW812

Introduction Throughout history, the definition of the term ‘masculinity’ has been challenged and developed countless times. Masculinity and militarism have always been intimately linked, and there has always been a romantic notion of serving and protecting. However, this reached an apex during the lead up to World War 1, and the soldier became the embodiment of masculinity. War propaganda posters further advocated this image of soldiers as the ideal man, and ultimately, the war became a test of manhood for all young men across Europe. However, as the war went on, the soldiers were confronted with the shocking reality of trench warfare – the manly soldiers who had bravely enlisted in the armed forces to fight were replaced with disturbed, limbless, shell-shocked victims. These soldiers who were once praised as war-heroes, were now hidden away and deemed unmanly by society’s judgement, which was dehumanising for these men. Furthermore, trench warfare itself challenged the soldiers’ masculinity. Instead of heroic and glorious fights as the war propaganda posters promised, soldiers were shoved into trenches, waiting helplessly for new orders, or otherwise bombardment from the enemy lines. Men also took on ‘female’ duties such as nursing the injured and comforting each other emotionally. This in itself was very ‘unmanly’, as according to standards at the time, silent stoicism was synonymous with masculinity, and sharing emotions was construed as feminine. Despite their efforts to assert their masculinity by enlisting in the army, the traumatised and injured men coming back home felt more hopeless and emasculated than before. This crisis of emasculation, which many of the men suffered, inspired a tremendous amount of literary output from war poets and novelists. One of the great novels which deal with the emasculation of World War 1 soldiers is Regeneration by English novelist and writer, Pat Barker.