Pages 202 – 205
In these extracts Barker presents a lack of change in attitude towards men and sexuality as established through Rivers conversation with Sassoon as they question Graves’s reaction to his old friend’s homosexuality.
As Sassoon discovered about Graves response to the fact that his friend is homosexual, he felt hurt as it meant that Graves made so explicit that it was “disgusting”. He also underwent a feel of disappointment in him as a friend- someone who was there for him and supports him, was now looked in a different perspective because of his closed minded opinion about homosexuals. As we know Sassoon is also homosexual so for a Graves to react that way made him feel like the person he came to knew didn’t turn out at he expected it to be. There friendship was possibly built on a lie and Sassoon impression of Graves has now changed, as if he didn’t know him anymore.
Sassoon thought of the homosexual situation was growing more tolerant but that was proven wrong as Graves friend was sent to a psychiatrist to be “cured” as if being a homosexual was a mental illness. This made him upset and oppose to what other people think. What is interesting is that even with the war going on, already being the worst thing that could happen, lost of lives the discussion of being a homosexual was still looked as if it were a sin. Rivers explains to him and makes it clear that there is a right and wrong kind of love between men. Rivers tries to protect Sassoon by advising him to keep his homosexuality a secret and not present himself fully or else he may even be considered as an enemy of his own country.
Posted By Ann Mayo-Smith
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