Key Quotations (AQA A-Level English Literature A): Revision Notes

Key quotations

Introduction to the novel

Strange Meeting by Susan Hill is a powerful exploration of World War I through the developing friendship between two soldiers, John Hilliard and David Barton. The novel examines major themes including trauma, friendship, disillusionment, and the psychological impact of combat. Understanding key quotations will help you analyse how Hill conveys these themes and prepares you for exam questions on character development and thematic concerns.

Inner conflict and disillusionment

'I knew everything. Nothing.'

This paradoxical statement demonstrates the protagonist's shattered worldview after experiencing the chaos and horror of warfare. The contradiction between knowing 'everything' and 'nothing' captures the loss of youthful certainty and confidence. Before the war, the character may have felt assured about life and his understanding of the world, but combat has revealed the limitations of his previous knowledge. This quotation marks a crucial moment of disillusionment where the character realises his pre-war assumptions were naive and inadequate for understanding the brutal reality he now faces.

'He felt a quiet misery, that he had somehow failed, because of that.'

Here, the character wrestles with feelings of guilt and a sense of isolation after being unable to reconnect emotionally with his family during leave. This quotation underscores the psychological distance that develops between soldiers and their loved ones. The 'quiet misery' suggests internal suffering that cannot be easily expressed or shared. Veterans often felt they had somehow let down their families by being unable to return to their former selves, even though the transformation was beyond their control. This sense of failure deepens their emotional isolation.

Futility of war

These quotations expose the pointlessness and waste of war, highlighting how soldiers lacked real agency and how mass death eroded individual humanity.

'The splendid thing about marching is, you just have to go. You assume someone else knows exactly where.'

The irony in this statement reveals how soldiers followed orders with blind obedience, lacking any real control or understanding of their situation. The word 'splendid' is deeply ironic – there is nothing splendid about being treated as unthinking automatons. Soldiers marched without knowing their destination or purpose, simply trusting that their commanders had a plan. This quotation exposes the war machine's dehumanising effect, reducing thinking individuals to cogs who 'just have to go' without question or agency. Hill critiques the military hierarchy that stripped soldiers of autonomy.

'Every man's death diminishes me.'

Hill uses this allusion to emphasise the shared humanity among soldiers and the cumulative psychological toll of witnessing repeated deaths. Each death is not just a statistic but a personal loss that erodes the survivor's sense of self and humanity. War's relentless casualty rate gradually diminishes everyone involved, wearing away at their emotional capacity and sense of human value. This speaks to the dehumanising nature of industrialised warfare.

Communication barriers

'How can I describe it to you? How would you ever be able to imagine what I can see?'

These rhetorical questions capture the incommunicable nature of frontline horror. The experiences soldiers endured were so far removed from civilian life that words seemed inadequate to convey their reality. This deepens the isolation survivors feel – even when trying to share their experiences, they recognise the impossibility of making others truly understand. The distance between 'describe' and 'imagine' emphasises that even perfect description cannot bridge the experiential gap. This quotation reveals why many veterans chose silence over futile attempts at explanation.

'I told you about what it was like in the summer and when I went home afterwards. I think that was a good thing, for me anyway... I couldn't talk to anyone else.'

This quotation demonstrates the rare catharsis that occurs when sharing traumatic experiences with a fellow soldier who possesses the same frame of reference. Unlike civilians, comrades can understand without detailed explanation because they share the same horrific context. The hesitation in 'I think that was a good thing, for me anyway' suggests uncertainty even about this release, but the final sentence confirms its uniqueness – 'I couldn't talk to anyone else.' This emphasises how only those who have endured similar trauma can offer genuine understanding, contrasting sharply with the incomprehension soldiers face from civilians.

Courage and endurance

'It is a brave act of valour to condemn death but where life is more terrible, it is the truest valour to live.'

This powerful quotation challenges traditional notions of military heroism. Conventional understanding associates valour with charging into battle or sacrificing oneself, but Hill argues that true bravery lies in persisting through unbearable daily horrors. When existence itself becomes torturous – through constant fear, witnessing death, enduring terrible conditions – choosing to continue living requires greater courage than seeking heroic death. This redefinition is significant because it validates the experience of ordinary soldiers who endured rather than those who performed singular acts of glory. It recognises the sustained psychological and physical courage needed simply to survive.

'There ought to be no time, now, for that, no place for it. He was being petty.'

This internal self-rebuke shows a character dismissing his own emotional needs as trivial compared to the gravity of war. The phrase 'being petty' suggests he views normal human feelings as inappropriate in war's extreme context. This quotation reveals how war forces soldiers to suppress their emotional responses and focus solely on survival. The character demonstrates emotional endurance by prioritising survival over what he perceives as resentment or self-pity. However, this constant suppression of normal feelings contributes to psychological damage, as soldiers deny themselves emotional processing.

Transformation and dread

'I have come out of the other side of whatever wood it was. But I am no longer so gay and light-hearted.'

This quotation captures the permanent psychological transformation war inflicts on young men. The metaphor of emerging from 'whatever wood' suggests a dark journey or trial, but crucially, the speaker has changed fundamentally. The loss of being 'gay and light-hearted' represents the death of innocence and youthful optimism. War has left lasting anxiety and seriousness that loved ones will notice. This transformation worries the speaker because it signals to family and friends that he has been irrevocably altered, making him almost unrecognisable from his former self. The change is visible and permanent.

'He knew that when he left here, he would not be able to believe that it would all continue to exist.'

This quotation reveals the profound detachment from civilian life that develops in soldiers. The front becomes so overwhelming and all-consuming that the normal world seems unreal – almost imaginary. When returning to the trenches, soldiers struggle to believe that ordinary life continues elsewhere. This captures a form of dissociation where the horror of war becomes more real than peaceful existence. The psychological trauma creates a cognitive split where the soldier cannot reconcile these two vastly different realities. Home becomes dreamlike and impossible to grasp mentally.

'There is no one that knows. Don't go.'

This urgent plea conveys the collective dread among soldiers and the unique understanding they share. 'There is no one that knows' emphasises that only fellow soldiers truly comprehend the horror awaiting at the front. The abrupt command 'Don't go' expresses desperate desire to protect others from experiencing what they themselves have endured. This quotation captures the bond between soldiers based on shared traumatic knowledge and their wish to spare others from the same fate. It also suggests the isolating nature of this knowledge – they are set apart from everyone else by what they have witnessed.

'He thought, we need him, he has something that none of us have.'

Here, Barton is identified as representing hope and vitality, qualities desperately needed to sustain morale amid despair. This quotation suggests that Barton possesses an inner strength or optimism that contrasts with the surrounding weariness and cynicism. His presence becomes vital for his comrades' emotional survival. The collective 'we' emphasises how Barton's qualities benefit the entire group, not just one individual. This quotation foreshadows tragedy – the emphasis on how much he is needed makes his eventual loss even more devastating. It highlights how certain individuals become emotional anchors for others during trauma.