Character Analysis (AQA A-Level English Literature A): Revision Notes

Character analysis

Understanding the key characters in Goodbye to All That is essential for appreciating Robert Graves' autobiographical war narrative. Each character plays a significant role in illustrating different experiences and perspectives of the First World War. This note will help you identify and analyse the main figures in the text.

Captain Robert Graves (the narrator and protagonist)

Captain Graves serves as both the narrator and central character of this autobiographical work. As an author, his wartime experience is shaped significantly by his role as a storyteller and observer.

Graves' war experience

When we first meet Graves, he holds the rank of lieutenant. His approach to the war is distinctively literary—he defines his time in combat largely through the stories he collects and the observations he makes. This narrative focus reflects his identity as a writer even whilst serving as a soldier.

During the Battle of the Somme offensive, Graves sustains serious wounds that mark a turning point in his life. The injuries are so severe that those around him believe he has died. In a particularly striking detail, his comrades inform his parents of his death. Graves must actively correct this mistake, even publishing a newspaper announcement to refute the premature obituary. This experience of being declared dead becomes a form of symbolic rebirth in the narrative.

Psychological trauma and aftermath

The text explores Graves' struggle with what we would now recognise as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). His suffering extends beyond his physical injuries—specifically damage to his lung—to encompass deep psychological wounds.

Key aspects of Graves' trauma include:

• Years spent recovering both physically and mentally after the war
• Continuing struggles with traumatic memories even after his body heals
• An inability to move past his wartime experiences
• Serious emotional damage that prevents him from connecting with others

When Graves attempts to re-enter civilian society, he discovers that he has become fundamentally changed. The text portrays him as a broken man who cannot establish emotional connections. This portrayal is significant for understanding the long-term psychological impact of combat on soldiers.

Graves' moral perspective

Throughout the war, Graves experiences distress not only from direct violence but also from what he perceives as the brutal mistreatment of enemy prisoners. This concern with ethics and humanity, even during wartime, distinguishes his perspective and adds moral complexity to the narrative.

Siegfried Sassoon

Sassoon represents another type of soldier-writer figure in the text. Like Graves, he combines literary sensibility with military service, but his approach to the war differs in important ways.

Sassoon's commitment to the war

Despite being a writer, Sassoon demonstrates strong belief in the necessity of the war effort. This conviction is so powerful that he volunteers to return to active combat even after sustaining injuries. His willingness to return to whichever front he has left due to injury shows his dedication to what he sees as a just cause.

This creates an interesting tension in his character: although he experiences fear about the conflict, he maintains his belief in its importance. This makes him what the text describes as a model soldier—someone who serves despite personal fear because of conviction in the cause.

Sassoon's role among soldiers

Sassoon's literary nature manifests in how he helps his fellow soldiers. He carries his narrative capacity with him into combat, using it to help other soldiers find meaning in their dangerous work. This suggests that storytelling and making sense of experience serve important functions even in the midst of war.

His presence in the text provides a contrast to Graves' more critical and traumatised perspective, showing that soldiers could interpret their wartime experiences differently.

General Kitchener

General Kitchener appears as a controversial figure representing military authority and its potential for deception. His characterisation raises important questions about leadership and the treatment of soldiers.

Kitchener's Mob

The general earned the nickname Kitchener's Mob for the troops he assembled. This informal designation suggests both the unconventional nature of his recruitment methods and perhaps a lack of proper military organisation.

Kitchener's primary action in the text involves conscripting hundreds of men into what was officially called a volunteer army. This contradiction—conscripting men into a volunteer force—already suggests problematic leadership.

Deceptive recruitment practices

The text reveals that Kitchener used deceptive tactics to build his army. He invited recent college graduates to join by offering them favourable temporary officer positions in exchange for their service. However, Kitchener crucially did not inform these men of his actual intentions for them.

Dr William Rivers

Dr Rivers appears as a post-war figure representing the medical and psychiatric response to combat trauma. His inclusion in the character list, despite appearing after the war, indicates his significance to Graves' overall narrative.

Rivers as psychiatrist

After the war, Dr Rivers holds the position of the most important psychiatrist available to treat traumatised soldiers. This suggests both the limited resources for mental health treatment and Rivers' prominence in the field.

Rivers consults with Graves about his psychological difficulties, attempting to help him recover from his wartime trauma. This detail connects Goodbye to All That to the broader historical context of shell shock and the emerging understanding of combat-related psychological damage.

Limitations of treatment

Significantly, the text reveals that Rivers' treatments prove mostly ineffective for Graves. This failure is attributed to a fundamental problem: Dr Rivers cannot change a man who is unwilling to be changed.

Eventually, Rivers abandons Graves' case, unable to help him. This outcome is important for several reasons:

• It suggests limitations in early psychiatric treatment of trauma
• It indicates that Graves remained resistant to recovery or change
• It reinforces the portrayal of Graves as fundamentally broken by his experiences
• It shows that some wartime damage proved irreparable with the medical knowledge available

The inclusion of this failed treatment underscores the text's broader themes about the lasting and sometimes permanent impact of war on soldiers' psychological wellbeing.

Character relationships and contrasts

Writers in uniform

Both Graves and Sassoon serve as writer-soldiers, but their differing perspectives illuminate the range of responses to war. Whilst Sassoon maintains belief in the war's necessity, Graves becomes increasingly critical and traumatised. This contrast allows readers to understand that soldiers with similar backgrounds could interpret their experiences very differently.

Authority figures and their impact

The contrast between the deceptive General Kitchener and the well-meaning but ineffective Dr Rivers shows two types of failure in institutional support for soldiers. Kitchener actively harms soldiers through deception, whilst Rivers fails to help them despite good intentions. Both ultimately leave soldiers damaged and unsupported.

The question of transformation

A central question running through these characterisations concerns whether war fundamentally transforms people. Graves cannot return to his former self, but Sassoon continues to volunteer for service. Rivers cannot change Graves, suggesting some transformations are permanent. These varied responses create a complex picture of war's psychological impact.