Year 12 IB Extended Essays 2018

Page 11 Candidate Number: FYW812

Barker further explores the concept of emasculation through the protagonist of the novel – Dr Rivers. The character, Rivers, is based on the real Dr W.H.R Rivers who worked at Craiglockhart Hospital from 1916 to 1917, and treated now famous war poets, Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. Although Prior and Rivers both experience emasculation, the reasons behind the emasculation varies. In the novel, Rivers’ role at the hospital is one with parental qualities – he nurtures, cares for and treats his patients. However, it is mentioned by Layard, an ex-patient of Rivers, that most patients ‘do not see [him] as a father’ and instead, is seen as a ‘male mother’ (Barker 1991, p.107). Rivers ‘disliked the term 'male mother'… He distrusted the implication that nurturing, even when done by a man, remains female, as if the ability were in some way borrowed, or even stolen, from women - a sort of moral equivalent of the couvade’ (Barker 1991, p.107). Regardless, the maternal role which Rivers undertakes emasculates him, as he has to display feminine qualities such as being emotional and caring for others. Moreover, it is implied in the novel that Rivers is homosexual, which was illegal at the time. Although during the lead up to the war, homosexuality was deeply frowned upon, society’s attitude towards gay men became even more intolerant along with the outbreak of war (Exploring Surrey's Past, 2015). Not only did homosexual men feel oppressed and outcaste, they were also associated with having more feminine qualities, which ultimately deepened the feelings of emasculation. Moreover, Rivers’ position is unique, as he is the one making his patients feel emasculated by undertaking a Freudian method to cure his patients. This method of healing was more commonly known as psychoanalysis, and it involves uncovering a patient’s unconscious thoughts, and releasing repressed emotions and experiences (McLeod, 2014). However, the paradoxical nature of Rivers’ method of treatment is that, in order for the patients to be cured, they are forced to release their emotions and discuss their feelings. These are actions deemed