Masculinity
The idea of a loss of masculinity runs throughout the novel. Anderson has dreams where he wears female corsets; Rivers contemplates the feminine qualities needed for his caring profession. Once the patients enter Craiglockhart, they seem to lose some of their masculinity. The only way they seem to get some of their masculinity back is when they get cleared and sent back to war. But it comes as a cost, because they are most probably going to be killed anyway.
Quote: Anderson dreams that he walks into a yard naked and is then chased by two people with sticks with snakes on the end. These people then tie him up in corsets.
On top of this, he may be further emasculated by his fear of blood. Considering he was formerly a surgeon, fearing blood would now become a rather emasculating experience as he can no longer carry out his duty.
2 comments:
This is an interesting dream to analyse. What do you think is the significance of being tied up in a corset?
i think being tied up in a corset is sort of like the man is being tied up in femininity, like he's being engulfed in femininity. Corsets were worn very tight and sometimes made it hard for the wearer to breathe properly: which could symbolize suffocation. Therefore, suffocation in femininity. And the corset of course symbolizes femininity because only women wore them.
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