Regeneration Trilogy: The Eye In The Door

'The Eye In The Door' is the second part in the 'Regeneration Trilogy'. Similar to 'Regeneration', the novel continues to explore the depth of human frailties, resiliance, truth and love. This second part is based straight after the first and focuses in on the main characters the we met in 'Rgeneration' such as ; WHR Rivers, Billy Prior, and Sassoon.

The novel begins with the life of Billy Prior after his departure from Craiglockart. The book places a heavy focus on Prior's dilema for having to serve in the army despite his own disagreement with the war. His dilema becomes greater as he finds himself in a complex and confusing situation where he is forced to act against a group of pacifists or other wise known as his 'loved ones'. The pressure and confusion surrounding which side of the war he is on worsens his neurasthenia to the point where he eventually develops a split personality in order to deal with his own individual consicence and his duty as an officer, creating a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde scenario. The self imposed split sparks memory gaps that Prior cannot account for and he becomes increasingly vulnerable to his cold and unfeeling self who focuses on bringing down the pacifists. with the help of Rivers, Prior is able to trace his problems.

By the end of the war, the British army had to deal with some 80 000 cases of shell shock. As early as 1917, it was clear that one seventh of all personal discharged from the army had war neuorses. There was also evidence that a considerable number of officers like Prior and Sassoon suffered from trauma with the officer to private ratio of those being treated was 1:6.

Further more, 'The Eye In The Door', also contains a sub-plot consicitng of the supression of homosexuals. A new character , Charles Manning constantly gets taunted by the infamous political affair; 'The Cult of the Clitoris' which saw the threatening exposure of 47000 names of homosexuals that was alledgedly held by a German prince who used it to black mail homosexuals to betray their country. In this instance, the use if this in the book reflects how homosexuals during the war were victimised.

In the late 19th centuary, The English Parliament passed a law that outlawed all forms of male homosexuality. This law implied that being gay was something to be ridiculed and scorned. Throughout 'Regeneration', Pat Baker repeatedly uses Sassoon as a tool to demonstrate this as Sassoon reveals his secret that he is gay. Such a secret could 'disqualify {him} for military service'. Rivers deals with natural homosexuals and war induced homosexuality which was deemed as 'inapropriate and degrading behaviour' at home.

Like the novel 'Regeneration', 'The Eye In The Door' continues to investigate the fracturing personalites of soldiers, self imprisonment, lack of sympathy and understanding surrounding the long term phsycological problems that occurd as a result of the war. In context with the time, the war was going badly and so this book gives an insight into how the pacifists and homosexuals were the scapegoats for the war going badly. The novel finally reveals itself as a compassionate study of pain to which people subject themselves in trying to perserve 'the unity we persisit in regarding as the condition of perfect health'.