“Regeneration Trilogy” by Pat Barker (post 3): Mr. Sassoon, war hero and anti-war poet, is “three different people, and they all wanted to go different ways.”

I have just started the trilogy, and whether or not the author thinks of it in terms of multiple personality, per se, it looks like it may turn out to be her psychological theme.

In the military psychiatric hospital during WWI, one historical character, Dr. Rivers (1), interviews another historical character, Siegfried Sassoon, who is both a war hero “nicknamed ‘Mad Jack’ by his men for his near-suicidal exploits” and an anti-war poet (2).

In an initial interview, Rivers asks Sassoon about his background, and at one point Sassoon says, “It was like being three different people, and they all wanted to go different ways” (3, p. 33).

Dr. Rivers does not stop to explore the psychological implications of the above statement, but I am interested.

1. Wikipedia. “W. H. R. Rivers.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._H._R._Rivers

2. Wikipedia. “Siegfried Sassoon.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegfried_Sassoon

3. Pat Barker. The Regeneration Trilogy: Regeneration [1991], The Eye in the Door [1993], The Ghost Road [1995]. London, Viking/Penguin, 1996.