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The Return of the Soldier

2004Rebecca West

1.1/5

"I heard, amazed, his step ring strong upon the stone, for I had felt his absence as a kind of death from which he would emerge ghostlike, impalpable."Two women await the return of a soldier, Chris, from World War I. His wife, Kitty, is an upper-class woman, still mourning the death of their child. Jenny, his cousin, serves as narrator for this beautifully written novella by Rebecca West. I felt this wasn’t so much a commentary about the war itself as it was a critique of the social classes and expectations of the day as well as an examination of truth and love. You see, Chris has suffered from shell-shock and has summarily wiped away all memory of the past fifteen years of his life. Kitty is a stranger to him, and Jenny remains as a young childhood companion. The one memory that rushes back and impresses most upon his mind is that of a first love, Margaret. Many prejudices of the upper class towards the lower class are revealed as we witness the reactions of both Kitty and Jenny towards Margaret. Jenny is so assured that she and Kitty have secured Chris’s happiness through their material wealth and beauty. "This house, this life with us, was the core of his heart." Jenny cannot imagine that the old flame could ever be rekindled with a woman as plain and simple, even offensive in her eyes, as Margaret. "She isn't beautiful any longer. She's drearily married. She's seamed and scored and ravaged by squalid circumstances. You can't love her when you see her."I will refrain from saying too much more about the plot. It is fascinating to watch the interactions between the three women and Chris. Does truth lead to happiness? What duties do these women have towards Chris? What motivates them to act as they do? I observed Jenny’s bit of growth despite the short length of this story, and it left me hopeful. To me, Jenny was the true protagonist in this story, not simply narrating the happenings around her. This experience has changed her awareness of love and life ; what she will do with this growth… well, we can only speculate. "I felt, indeed, a cold intellectual pride in his refusal to remember his prosperous maturity and his determined dwelling in the time of his first love, for it showed him so much saner than the rest of us, who take life as it comes, loaded with the unessential and the irritating."This was a wonderful introduction to West’s very lyrical writing. It’s a very quick read and one that certainly makes you think; the ending was very moving. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this one, and I look forward to reading more of Rebecca West.
Picture of a book: The Return of the Soldier

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