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Memoirs of an Infantry Officer by Siegfried Sassoon -- Analysis and Themes

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Themes Disillusionment with religion: A ludicrous oleograph of our Savior preaching from a boat, which we always referred to as jocular Jesus. … Finally, when with flushed faces we sauntered out into the sunshine, he remarked that he'd half a mind to go and look for a young lady to make his wife jealous. I said that there was always the cathedral to look at, and discovered that I'd unintentionally made a very good joke. Violence and danger lurking around. Audio and visual representations: But on the horizon the bombardment bumped and thudded in a continuous bubbling grumble. … While I lay on the floor in my flea-bag the blackness of the night framed in the window was lit with incessant glare and flash of guns. Innocence corrupted - conceptions of purity shattered by violence: The Seventh Division Battle Plan didn't look aggressively unpleasant on paper as I transcribed it into my note-book. Rose Trench, Orchard Alley, Apple Alley, and Willow Avenue, were among the first obj

Memoirs of an Infantry Officer by Siegfried Sassoon -- Summary

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The following is a summary of chapters 1-5. Chapter 1 The narrator George Sherston is sorry to be leaving the Marais (France, probably) with his battalion. The narrator is an English officer of rather high rank. They move to Morlancourt. The morning after they arrive they receive the plan for their battle that week. George and Durley go investigate the front line in preparation for some fighting the next day. They note how the countryside has changed because of the war. The day of fighting arrives but the attack is postponed 48 hours. No one is sure why. George feels empty about the upcoming battle. They settle into New Trench. He is thinking about England and supposes that it is for home that he is at war. George is informed that gaps in the wire have to be widened to let their battalion pass through from the trenches quickly to attack. He and eight men set off after midnight to cut wire after artillery fire had slackened a little. It is not entirely over however and two men are wound