I am finding Vera Brittain's A Testament of Youth to be an extremely moving read. It seems to me to be such an honest account of what people went through during World War I. I think the aspect of the sections that we read that interested me the most was Brittain's enthusiasm and willingness to work as a nurse while Roland was away at war. Her reasons for wanting to work in a hospital were interesting to me, as well as her relationship with Roland. She quotes a passage from her diary, stating that "He has to face far worse things than any sight or act I could come across; he can bear it- and so can I." She then writes, "Truly the War has made masochists of us all" (Brittain, 154). She writes later that "she never minded these ahces and pains, whiched appeard to [her] soley as satisfactory tributes to [her] love for Roland" (Brittain, 164). And then later, "Since it was always Roland whom I was nursing by proxy, my attitude towards him imperceptibly changed; it became less romantic and more realistic, and thus a new depth was added to my love" (Brittain, 166).

I found these passages to all be extrememly interesting, and it seems to me that these sentiments would have been felt by many women who had loved ones fighting in the war. It seems to show the women's desire and willingness to do their part in the war, as a way of living up to what the men were doing. It also showed me a good example of how relationships were changed as a result of the war. There were many other things that interested me as well in this reading, but this was something that I found to be particularly intriguing.