How is Conflict Presented in Birdsong?

Birdsong, written by Sebastian Faulks presents conflict in a number of ways. Just a few of these ways are through masculinity, physical and psychology.

Faulks shows the conflict of masculinity through the personas of the soldiers. The men involved in the war were expected at that time to have a hardy personality and to deal with all the horrors of war that they had witnessed. They were not expected to show any weakness or psychological damage and counselling was not readily available as it is today. The soldiers masculinity is put into question throughout the novel, for instance when Weir breaks down and asks Stephen to “hold”[1] him. As Pat Wheeler suggests, “One is not born a woman, one becomes one.”[2] This tells us that gender roles are not prescribed and that people who we expect to be masculine can become feminine. The soldier’s masculinity is questioned throughout Birdsong and Faulks suggests that stereotypes are not always correct.

In Part 3, when the character of Elizabeth is introduced we see a further challenge of gender roles. Elizabeth is seen as a masculine character who wants to be left alone. She is a strong willed character and she contrasts the gender role set for women, “She liked living alone. She liked being alone.”[3] It is stereotypical for women to be feminine, but with Elizabeth this is not the case.

A crisis in masculinity is also shown in the form of homosocial love. Working class males are often connected to masculinity. Andrew Tolson believes that, “manual labour is suffused with masculine qualities and given certain sexual overtones… The toughness and awkwardness of physical work and effort…takes of masculine lights and depths and assumes significance beyond itself.”[4] Jack Firebrace is the ultimate working class character, he posses all the qualities traditionally associated with men. Jack feels this homosocial love for Shaw, as is shown when the men take their baths and Jack notices Shaw’s “huge back, with the muscles slabbed and spread out across his shoulders”[5] he also presents homosocial love for Evans when he is “following Evan’s crawling buttocks”[6] in the tunnel. This love defies masculinity as it is not what would have expected in the army or the stereotypical working class male. Stephen has feelings of love for his troops

Physical devastation in Birdsong is prevalent throughout the novel. When Stephen is hospitalised he sees a boy who has been injured by a gas bomb and therefore has a face “marked with bluish-violet patches,”[7] this shows the horrors of war and how easily soldiers were affected. The fact that the boy is so young and naive, with the doctor calling him a “stupid boy”[8] presents just how vulnerable and fragile humans can be.

Faulks uses gruesome imagery in Birdsong to show the physical devastation of the War. When the soldiers are under attack in the tunnel, Jack sees “part of Turner’s face and hair still attached to a piece of skull rolling to a halt.”[9] This quote is pertinent because it really does show the pace of war and that any moment a life can be taken, this coincides with the views of John Mullan, who says “the soldiers at the front have learnt not to be shocked, not even to be emotional, at any particular person’s death.”[10] The soldiers know the consequences of war, and therefore do not become attached to fellow soldiers, “though of the stench of his clothes, the lice along the seams, the men he was frightened to be friend in case their bodies came apart the next day in front of his eyes.”[11]

Faulks presents psychological conflict in the novel. Many soldiers suffered huge psychological issues due to the horrors of war. Weir is shown as a soldier who is heavily affected by the war as he is constantly drinking, he is portrayed with “his eyes looked wild and red with whisky. The brownish stubble on his cheeks and chin was surely the result of more than one mornings missed shave.”[12] It is clear that Weir is psychologically damaged; he has no close friends apart from Stephen, who he heavily relies on. Weir has no other connections in his life, when he writes the letter to his parents it is detached and when he returns home on leave he feels misunderstood he says “I tried to explain to them what it is like… my father was bored… I would especially like a five-day bombardment on their street.”[13] Weir clearly resents his parents for their lack of understanding.

When Stephen visits the prostitute his own psychological issues are shown, “he turned the knife so that the blade was in his palm, then ran the handle of it down between her breasts and over her thighs. He did not know what he was doing.”[14] The fact the Stephen is unaware of his actions clarify his psychological issues and is as if he’s gone into autopilot. Also, the girl does not seem alarmed by Stephen’s behaviour gives us the ideas that it must have been common amongst soldiers and that many men must have been affected by the war in the same way that Stephen and Weir were; by the end of the war 80,000 cases of shell shock, which is psychological disturbance caused by prolonged exposure to war. The fact the soldiers get such an intense pleasure from killing really allows us to see that the soldiers have mental issues. They want to kill the “Boche”[15] with such a passion, that they dehumanise the Germans and focus on the kill. This trait is not the norm for the average person, it is abnormal behaviour and therefore the soldiers are mentally unwell.

Overall, Faulks presents conflict in the novel through the identities of the soldiers and their crisis of masculinity, the psychological issues they face and through physical devastation.

[1] Faulks, S. Birdsong (London: Vintage: 1993) page 240

[2] Wheeler, P. Birdsong: A Reader’s Guide (London: Continuing International: 2002)

[3] Faulks, S. Birdsong (London: Vintage: 1993) page 256

[4] Tolson, A. Limits of Masculinity (London: Tavistock Publishing: 1977)

[5] Faulks, S. Birdsong (London: Vintage: 1993) page 142

[6] Ibid, Faulks, page 122

[7] Ibid, Faulks page 185

[8] Ibid, Faulks, page 187

[9] Ibid, Faulks, page 124

[10] Mullan, J. The Guardian

[11] 1Faulks, S. Birdsong (London: Vintage: 1993) page 229

[12] Ibid, Faulks, page 284

[13] Faulks, S. Birdsong (London: Vintage: 1993) page 294

[14] Ibid, Faulks, page 206

[15] Ibid, Faulks, page 339