When reading this particular section of Testament of Youth, I was impressed with Vera Brittain's honesty and her ability to articulate specific sentiments surrounding the war that many would feel uncomfortable recognizing. For example, she writes the following in a proto-"Dear John" letter to her finacé:

"One cannot be angry with people at the front - a fact which I sometimes think they take advantage of - and so when I read ' We go back into the trenches tomorrow ' I literally dare not write you the kind of letter you perhaps deserve, for thinking that the world might end for you on that discordant note." (217)

She's clearly upset at the beginning of the letter, snarkily remarking that "apparently one has to be greateful nowadays for being allowed to know [her fiancé] is alive" (217). Then, in the passage above, Brittain recognizes that she's upset at her fiancé's lack of communication, yet she points out that she feels inclined to withold her anger because he's on the front line of war. The most suprising part of it all is Brittain's accusal of Roland and other soldiers for taking advantage of the fact that people on the home front feel guilty for holding them accountable from afar. Brittain's analysis points out the War's effect on a relationship between two people, showing how it does not allow either party to communicate freely or honestly. Whether or not she has a valid reason for being angry with her fiancé, I assume that many readers, including myself, have suffered this same sense of guilt for being angry despite feeling justified in it. This passage humanizes and personalizes Brittain's experience with the war by presenting this universally relatable emotion - even for those who have not experiened war in such close proximity.