Sunteți pe pagina 1din 2

Anthony Shaw

Janet Rathert
English 1011
22 September, 2015
Only do This
So often repeated is the rather mindless saying, unless I know what is really good for
me, I cannot know what is really good for every other human being. If we strip this of any deep
and confusing philosophical meaning, it still makes sense as a moral guideline. Rivers, the man
who was more confused than any of the shell-shocked patients, eventually came to realize he
didnt have a reasonable explanation for the things he was doing. The reason why Rivers was so
confused, so incapable of knowing what was really good for himself, was because he was the one
who was silenced. War has its tolls on the men who physically fight, but the men and women
who support (whether they agree or disagree) the war face an even heavier toll; the inescapability
of wars silence.
This concept of silence became clear to Rivers after he witnessed the method of healing
Yealland used on Callan. Just as Yealland silenced the unconscious protest of his patients by
removing the paralysis, the deafness, the blindness, the muteness that stood between them and
the war, so, in an infinitely more gentle way, [Rivers] silenced his patients; for the stammerings,
the nightmares, the tremors, the memory lapses -- Rivers was just doing what he thought he
knew to be best (Barker 239). Rivers thought what was best was to treat his patients gently,
compared to Yeallands methods. Relating to his most interesting patient, guilt overwhelmed
Rivers once he realized that it was his influence which resulted in Sassoon abandoning his anti-

war protest. Rivers felt guilty because he felt he had stripped away Sassoons only chance of
escaping this blanket of silence created by both the war and the Board.
There is no question whether or not Rivers was morally virtuous. He was devout to his
work and his patients, and even passed up a job offer in London. But, Rivers flaw was that
because he did not truly understand what being healed meant he did not truly know what was
really good for himself, let alone, anybody else. When Prior commented on Rivers stammer it
marked the beginning of his self questioning and observation: Because if your stammer was the
same as theirs - you might actually have to sit down and work out what it is youve spent fifty
years trying not to say (97). Initially, Rivers talked it off as something he was born with. Soon,
he begins to become noticeably irritable, and then even ill. He experiences irregular heart beats,
and then even states he has war neurosis, I already stammer and Im starting to twitch (140).
Rivers believed that it was the war that mentally handicapped or hindered soldiers, not that they
were weak to begin with. But Rivers does not take the time to consider the damage the war has
put on himself, the damage he had began to see.
Reading and listening to Sassoons reasoning behind his leave from war was intriguing to
Rivers. Despite never being verbose with his own opinions, Rivers did indeed care. However,
Rivers is a prisoner. He is a slave to the country. He is a vessel to perform tasks of patching and
repair. What he thinks of the war does not matter, what he thinks of Sassoon and his opinions and
problems does not matter -- but it does to Rivers. Throughout the course of Sassoons stay at
Craiglockhart, a sort of friendship is created between the two. One which Rivers respects, but
one believes he must keep a professional attitude. The war puts pressure on professionals just as
much as bullets flying across a field apply pressure to the soldiers. While Rivers had his own
way of dealing with his ordered duty, he missed out on a large opportunity; speaking out.

S-ar putea să vă placă și