World War I

It is quite interesting that people do not seem to be effected, pay attention or even care about what is going on around them unless it is affecting them personally. The war did not really effect Vera until the man she loved decided he needed to go and then was going to the front lines of war. Her entire demeaner changed. As Vera grew and changed I think she came to realise that people did not notice what was happening unless it was happening to them. She could no longer remain in her current position while her fiance went off to fight. The best way for her to still be connected to Roland was to join in the fight. She remained closest to Roland by helping where she could as a nurse. The love between Vera and Roland was so pure and solid that no matter what they were going through or how far apart they were from each other they still continued to support and love each other as best as they could. The most significant part for me is the end of this chapter. Vera did everything she could to be strong and to share her love with Roland and she was so close to seeing him again when the worst happens. I wonder how her story conitnues. No matter how it does her life will never be the same.

The war happened to a lot of people and millions of people have their own stories just like Vera. The thing that bothers me, which I believe is true even for the present day fighting, is that even though the war is going on every day, continuing for years, the only people that are being affected are the ones with loved ones fighting on the lines or supporting the solidiers from home. If people are not directly involved they are going to ignore what is happening right around them. Nothing ever comes good from war. All war brings is death and tragedy and sorrow. The people that survive the war are the lucky ones and the only people that appreciate them are the people that supported them the entire way. I wonder if Vera would have ever realised this if Roland did not go to war. In one way it was good for both of them that he did, but unfortunately it does not end well for either of them. No matter how much hope and strength a person has sometimes it just isn't enough and that is just one of the many harsh realities of war.

     The aspect of Brittain's Testament of Youth that most intrigued me was that she felt service in the war was more beneficial than an education. She says that after the Viva Voce that told her she passed, she didn't really care, but was instead very happy to have finished that phase of her life. Before this, she seems obsessed with the War and incapable of going about her daily life knowing that there are men dying everywhere in Europe. Her mother neatly sums up this sentiment when she says "'One's intellect... could always take care of itself. It was one's personality that counted, and that could be better nourished sometimes in active life than in halls of learning.'" (163). Vera seems to come from a family that values learning, so I think it is interesting that the war has so warped their values. I can see why her mother said this, considering that Vera had the opportunity to go to school at any point (probably not after marrying Roland, however) but serving her country was an opportunity only available for a short while. I understand Vera's desire to serve like those she loves are doing as well, but I don't think that she or her mother are really taking account the gravity of her decision to become a nurse. This is echoed throughout the next sections as Vera begins to become disillusioned with the War and Roland's obsession with it. This is a good representation of the european eagerness to enter the war that was discussed in A Very Short Introduction and the subsequent disappointment when the war lasts way longer than expected.

One of the major things I noticed while reading Testament of Youth was the blunt and honest style of the narrative. When Vera Brittain states "how fortunate we were who still had hope I did not then realize; I would not know how soon the time would come when we should have no more hope and yet be unable to die", I was a shocked by her assertion that they were "unable" to die. Being without hope is one thing, but for a world to have fallen apart so much that one wishes to die but is unable was fairly upsetting. However it was that idea that really helped emphasize to me how the generation who survived the war must have felt. Although the term 'Lost Generation' generally refers to the men who died in WWI and were thusly "lost", in the context of Vera Brittain's narrative, I began to feel as though the 'Lost Generation' referred more to those who were left behind. Those who were left behind had lost many friends and many family members, they were left in a shattered world, feeling lost and afloat in the aftermath and did not know where to begin the reconstruction of their past lives. Perhaps it is only because Vera Brittain's story is so gut-wrenching, but I can honestly say that reading this book has forced me to truly experience the horror and devastation of WWI for the first time and the honesty of the narrative is a large component of that. 

   While reading Brittain I tried to see what parallels could be made between what she writes about WWI and the sort of media descriptions we have of the war we are currently involved in.  For Brittain, she is not writing to entertain, she is not writing to get the nation the back the war.  She is simply telling her story: the story of countless lives lost for a seemingly pointless cause.  While she does convey a certain level of patriotism, it is nothing like that of war movies today.  I found this contrast interesting.  Take for a example the recent movie Zero Dark Thirty.  It is the story of the hunt and eventual death of Osama Bin Laden at the hands of the now famous Navy Seal team.  It is clear that this movie is meant to stir up feelings of pride in our nation and give the viewers a sense of accomplishment as a united nation.  This does not parallel the ways in which Brittain conveys death in war, however there is one aspect in the movie that is similar to that of Brittain.  There are numerous scenes where Americans are torturing terror suspects.  It is not sugar coated in anyway and was so grotesque and vivid that I almost had to leave the theater.  While Brittain's writing may not have been quite as gory, it is still heading towards a similar point: there comes a point where patriotism is just a sham and the real horrors finally surface.  While I'm sure many other comparisons can be made, this to me was the one that stood out the most.

One of the more interesting aspects of Testament of Youth is Vera Brittain's shifting attitude towards the war, from enthusiatic patriot to world-weary cynic. While working for the hospitals in Devonshire and Camberwell, Vera Brittain displays both a patriotic zeal for the war effort, and a disillusioned bitterness towards war's horrific effects. She writes of "the baffling contrast" between these two conflicting experiences, and the difficulty of trying to  reconcile her perceptions and ideals about the war with her actual experience. 
    Outwardly at least, Brittain is proud of her work supporting the war effort, telling her parents that "'I should never respect myself again if I allowed a few slight physical hardships to make me give up what is the finest work any girl can do now'" (213). Yet she confesses in her diary that "after seeing some of the dreadful things I have to see here, I feel I shall never be the same person again . . . Some of the things in our ward are so horrible that it seems as if no merciful disposition. of the universe could allow them and one's consciousness to exist at the same time." (215) These sort of soul-degrading experiences pervades Brittain's entire memoir, causing her to characterize moments of idealism or patriotic sentiments as little more than childish naivete in retrospect. While it's easy to retroactively dismiss Brittain's optomism as mere inexperience, I think that Brittain's contrasting wartime perceptions and experiences might be a good indicator of the worldwide cognative dissonance which fueled the war from the civilian perspective. 

Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth provides vivid detail of what truly occurred during WWI, not only the war itself, but the physical and emotional effects it had on the populous. Testament of Youth attempts to retell the story of losing entire generations during the relatively short span of WWI. I found the readings very moving and at sometimes almost infuriating. Brittain did an excellent job at recreating the rapid change that occurred during this period, the rush and pressure of new technology, and the brewing of revolution.

Many people associate youth with life, having ‘all the time in the world’, being worry free, and optimism. It must have been eye-opening for the youth during the time to have been surrounded by such a multitude of death. In some cases, everyone they once knew was dead and soon they would be too. Many of the men fighting found no glory or honor in their victories. They were fighting a battle that lacked any real purpose; they were as disposable as the weapons they held. Those who did return home brought with them physical scars as well as psychological; they were hollow shells of men. 

Ashley Brown

Our reading from Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth has been thought provoking.  What I appreciate most about this narrative is that Brittain writes intimately, but also institutes a certain distance between herself and the reader.  She successfully shares very emotional material in a logical, nearly mechanical way.  I know that's an oxymoronic way to describe it, but I think that's a consequence of the multifaceted issues that war provokes.  For instance, Brittain decides to become a nurse at Devonshire hospital because she feels that to pursue her studies at the university would, for the time being, be wasteful.  However, her tasks at the hospital are often tedious and unskilled.  I'm not saying that her service at the hospital was unimportant, I'm simply observing that her priorities were strongly influenced by her environment rather than a set list of ideals. But of course, her ideals shaped her actions...so we come full circle.

On a different note, Brittain's description of the mortality that Roland had witnessed that "had come to have a great attraction for him" was highly reminiscent of Stephen Crane's Red Badge of Courage.  Interestingly, neither writer ever went to battle. Crane described death as a "red badge of courage" that allured soldiers into its grasp.  I suppose that for the men of WWI this kind of grim mentality must also have affected many soldiers, considering that they wouldn't have known what to expect of a post-war planet after years in trenches, surrounded by modern technology and brutality.

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. 

The thoughts that come to mind while reading her personal experience is just "wow." I think the biggest thing that stands out is loss of the individual. Both Roland and Vera were a certain way before the war started. Both were intellegent individuals that looked forward to the future and what all life had coming for them. But then war broke out and all of their ideas of the future changed. It is just amazing to think that these two people were around our age and had the same thoughts we have, but then it is all interupted by war, total war at that. When the war broke out, their lives changed. Roland went to war and his views of life changed as the war went on. Vera went to work as a nurse and her views on life changed as well. It really seems that each of them grew away from themselves and what they had known. It just really hits because it raises a lot of questions, to me, about what if something like this broke out today. Our lives would be changed by it and how it affected us. We would have to change much like they had to change.

It is shocking how the war effected the youth during it all. So many of the youth were thrown into this unreal situation and had to live with it. Young men were sent to trenches and witnessed death all around them. Women were put to work and first exprenced the horrors of war by being nurses. It is shocking the toll this generation was faced with and had to deal with. I believe that is who the war affected the most.

What I found most interesting about Brittain’s account was the contradiction that both she and Roland experience during their first experiences with wartime death. Roland “did not quite know how [he] felt” when the first of his men is killed. He expected to have some amount of strong, distinct emotion—likely anger at a foreign enemy—but his reaction is one of pity for the soldier and a “sudden feeling of impotence.”  The first death that Brittain witnesses leaves her in a similar state. I think that the complete resignation that they both face these first experiences with is a remarkable testament to the effect that the war has already had on their attitudes towards death.

The casual, and almost clinical, attitudes that they have towards dying is really stunning at times. Edward, not even on the battlefields yet, “expressed a haunting premonition that he himself would not survive to see the coming of peace”, but was rather blasé about it. Roland was often depicted in a similar state of mind. Brittain, who had once been “filled with horror and fear” at the idea of dying, now only dreads a lingering death.