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Megan Smith
Mrs. E. Richardson
University English II
12 November 2010
The Characterization of Dr. Rivers in Regeneration
Thesis: Throughout Regeneration, Pat Barker reveals the dynamic nature of Dr. Rivers through
the initial conflict between his love for his patients and his duty to the government, the evolution
of his opinions as he interacts with patients at Craiglockhart War Memorial Hospital, and the
severity of his opposition to the treatment methods used by Dr. Yealland.
I. The initial conflict between Rivers’ duty to the government and his love for his patients
A. Love for his patients
1. When expressed freely
2. When masked by the masculine complex society preferred
B. Duty to the Government to return his patients to war
C. Examples of the two conflicting
II. The evolution of Rivers’ opinions as he interacts with patients
A. Through his interactions with Prior
C. Through his interactions with Sassoon
1. Introduction to pacifist idea
2. Fear of repercussions of “curing” a patient who is not sick
B. Through his interactions with Burns
III. Rivers’ opposition to the treatment methods used by Dr. Yealland
A.
Yealland’s methods
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1. The pain inflicted upon the patients
2. The treatment of the patients as inferior
B.
Contrast between Yealland’s Methods and Rivers’ methods
1. Pain infliction vs. conversation
2. Inferiors vs. equals
C.
Rivers’ reactions
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Megan Smith
Mrs. E. Richardson
University English II
12 November 2010
The Characterization of Dr. Rivers in Regeneration
Pat Barker’s Regeneration is the first book in a three-part series giving fictional accounts
of the lives of many historical personages from World War I, including some of the war poets
and a doctor who treated them. As the novel commences, Barker introduces readers to war hero
Siegfried Sassoon, who refused continued fighting on the grounds that the asserted purposes of
the war had already been fulfilled. Rather than getting a court martial, as he had hoped, Sassoon
is declared “mentally unsound” and sent to the Craiglockhart War Memorial Hospital where he
comes into contact with Dr. W. H. R. Rivers. Dr. Rivers is employed to get the soldiers to a state
of “mental fitness,” enabling them to return to the service. From the opening of the novel to the
closing, when Rivers leaves the hospital for London where he will work with Dr. Yealland,
readers are glued to the pages wondering what will become of him. Which side will he fight for:
that of the struggling soldiers or that of the desperate government? Throughout Regeneration,
Pat Barker reveals the dynamic nature of Dr. Rivers through the initial conflict between his love
for his patients and his duty to the government, the evolution of his opinions as he interacts with
patients at Craiglockhart War Memorial Hospital, and the severity of his opposition to the
treatment methods used by Dr. Yealland.
When introduced to Dr. Rivers, one of the first things the reader notices is the love he
holds for his patients. At times, Rivers expresses this love freely, a method helpful to many of
the soldiers. The first evidence of his attitude towards the patients occurs in his dialogue with a
colleague, Dr. Bryce, concerning Sassoon. Bryce questions, “Did you like him?” (Barker 16).
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Rivers responds: “Yes, very much. And I found him…much more impressive than I expected”
(16). Bryce expected Rivers to judge the patient just as other authorities had—to think him
incompetent and a threat to the country due to his rebellion against the war. However, Rivers
chooses to hear his patient and even to sympathize with him, realizing that his anger and
opposition to war was real, even credible. Samuel Hynes claims, “But the private man, the
individual who talked with his patients and read their books and was troubled by their ideas,
seems to have been rather different [than the public Rivers]” (qtd. in Harris). Rivers cares about
his patients; he does not think of them only as subjects of his treatment who he must prepare for
a return to war. This bold quality makes Rivers the successful doctor that he is. It contributes
greatly to his characterization and is necessary to understanding the changes that overcome him.
Though much of Rivers’ love for his patients is expressed openly, he also attempts to
conceal his affections under a cloak of masculinity, which leads to tension and, consequently,
changes in his character. During World War I, society associated certain qualities with women
and thought men who expressed these qualities were weak. Karen Knutsen asserts, “In the
trilogy, Barker takes traits traditionally perceived as quintessentially ‘feminine’ in a patriarchal
society…and uses them in the creation of male characters” (111). Some characters, generally
those possessing more rationality, attempt to mask any instincts that could, in any way, link them
to women. An example of Rivers’ attempting to do so is offered after he gives Prior a text book
answer for the reason of Prior’s breakdown. Rivers states, “I’m sorry to sound so impersonal. I
know you hate being ‘the patient’” (105). He is aware of his objectivity, but he still speaks
without emotion or connection. This results from his desire to conform to society’s expectations.
Regardless of this awareness of society’s preferences, Rivers yearns for his patients to embrace
their emotions. The narrator asserts, “In advising his [Rivers’] young patients to abandon the
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attempt at repression and to let themselves feel the pity and terror their war experience inevitably
evoked, he was excavating the ground he stood on” (48). Rivers knows how strongly the men
feel against emotions associated with women. The narrator further describes Rivers’ opinion:
“these emotions were so despised that they could be admitted into consciousness only at the cost
of redefining what it meant to be a man” (48). As Rivers looks upon the challenges society
places upon men who attempt to feel—to be more than just mindless workers— he finds himself
repulsed. Rivers attempts to help the patients at Craiglockhart to see past these boundaries as he
also tries to cross them. He believes that the only way they will recover from their neurosis is to
embrace emotion. Fortunately, Rivers succeeds in many cases, making him an excellent doctor
to these patients. This is related in Greg Harris’s statement: “Rivers’s encouragement of
feelings…seems invariably to have led these men on journeys of introspective exploration into
unpaved avenues of emotion never before taken or even thought available.” The lengths to
which Rivers goes to undermine society’s demands and help his patients further indicates his
love for them and characterizes him not only as a man committed to doing his job, but also as a
man with great moral compass, true concern for those he cares for, and a willingness to conquer
personal feats in order to help others.
This love Rivers shows his patients is countered by the strong duty he feels toward the
government for which he works. Due to his moral conscience he feels obligated to perform his
duties, which are described in his dialogue with Sassoon: “You realize, don’t you, that it’s my
duty…to try to change that? I can’t pretend to be neutral” (15). Despite the fact that he partially
agrees with Sassoon and does not think him to be mad, Rivers accepts that it is his duty to “cure”
Sassoon to the point where he is able to return to war. Elaine Showalter suggests, “The goal of
wartime psychiatry was primarily to keep men fighting, and thus the handling of male hysterics
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and neurasthenics was more urgently purposeful than the treatments” (qtd. in Harris). The
government pressures Rivers to tell them that a patient is “cured” and prepared to return to the
front, and Rivers submits to these orders because it is his job. Near the closing of the novel,
Sassoon speaks to Rivers about his concerns that the government may claim that his neurosis has
returned if he tries to continue speaking out against the war. He wants Dr. Mercier, another
psychiatrist, to declare him sane. A shocked and confused Rivers wonders why, and he fears that
Sassoon has decided not to return to the war. When Sassoon tells him he does wish to return,
Rivers proclaims, “Thank God. I don’t pretend to understand, but thank God” (213). This
statement perfectly portrays Rivers’ philosophy on work. Rivers constantly shows readers that
he will perform his duty to the government and that he thinks of it not as an option, but as a
necessity.
Throughout Regeneration there is evidence of a conflict between Rivers’ love for his
patients and his commitment to the government, which contributes greatly to his dynamic
characterization. He finds himself going back and forth between what is right and wrong. In
essence, there is an internal struggle in Rivers between the well-being of individuals and the
greater good; he must decide which holds priority. Every time Rivers feels forced to choose the
government over a patient, his heart breaks a bit. This is evident in his conversation with a
patient, Prior, who begs Rivers not to report his asthma, so that he can go back to the front.
Rivers cares about Prior and his desire, but the regretting duty-driven man inside of him defers:
“Look, if this is what happens when you’re exposed to cigarette smoke on a train, how would
you cope with gas?” (134). Rivers realizes that it would be detrimental to the country to have
fighting people unable to have a positive influence on the outcome of the war. Because of this,
he rejects Prior’s wishes and reveals his asthma to the war board. This is evident in his
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encounters with Sassoon as well. Though he does not believe that anything is wrong with
Sassoon, he feels obligated to “cure” him, enabling him to return to the war. Ankhi Mukherjee
states, “With Sassoon, the task is not simply to construct a consistent case history but to reinstate
his patient to the rationale of war.” Rivers clearly acknowledges the government’s triumph over
the individual in his mind, but not without regret. Readers are forced to see the struggle this
causes within Rivers—a struggle that eventually leads to his mental breakdown. He becomes
more and more mentally frayed, showing signs of neurosis himself. He summons Bryce over
some physical symptoms he is experiencing. Rivers explains to Bryce when asked what he
thinks is the cause of his symptoms: “War neurosis…I already stammer and I’m starting to
twitch” (140). Dr. Rivers launches into a harrowing attempt to assign priority to either the
individual or the state that causes a decline in his health. This struggle is one of the forces
responsible for the shifting nature of Dr. Rivers.
Another force contributing to the changes evident in Dr. River’s character are the
interactions he has with his patients. Billy Prior is one patient who impacts Rivers. He arrives to
the hospital unable to speak. Eventually, he regains his voice and readers learn that his
disrespect toward himself for what he thinks to be a weak condition inhibits him from embarking
upon the pathway of recovery proposed by Rivers. Prior refuses to talk about what happened,
partially because he feels that he is less manly because of the breakdown he had. Because of
Prior’s mind-set, Rivers states, “I don’t know that there is ‘a kind of person who breaks down.’ I
imagine most of us could if the pressure were bad enough. I know I could” (105-106). This
admission proves to be difficult for Rivers because of his own childhood. Rivers indicates that
his father lacked a threshold for emotions. According to Dr. Rivers, the majority of his
interactions with his father involved working on his stutter rather than having conversations.
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Rivers is forced to overcome this idea of what fatherhood consists of by Prior’s who, more than
anything, needs a father-like figure in order to recover. During one encounter between Rivers
and Prior, Prior starts crying and, when offered a tissue by Rivers, begins to ram his head into
Rivers’ chest. Prior was reaching out for some sort of connection. Harris states, “No tragedy, no
suffering dare be met with a request for, or an offering of, a simple hug between men. Prior
displaces his need for nurturing by violently beating his head against Rivers’s chest.” Because of
Prior, Dr. Rivers must overcome the boundaries set up for him in childhood; he must admit to his
vulnerability and learn to nurture others despite the strictures society has against it; in this way,
Prior contributes to the transformation of Rivers.
Siegfried Sassoon impacts Dr. Rivers as well; his primary influence on Rivers lies in the
initial opposing nature of their war philosophies. When Sassoon arrives with his pacifist views
concerning the war, Rivers disagrees. However, throughout the novel Sassoon’s words begin to
reach the doctor, and he finds the evolution of his opinion inevitable. Rivers’ transforming
opinion is illustrated in the passage: “And as soon as you accepted that the man’s breakdown was
a consequence of his war experience rather than of his own innate weakness, then inevitably the
war became the issue” (115). He finds himself incapable of ignoring the things the war did to his
patients, and this realization leads him to explore the beliefs held by Sassoon. Hynes
acknowledges, “Rivers consequently turned to researching pacifism, often consulting Sassoon
for advice on books and journals to read that reflected pacifist viewpoints” (qtd. in Harris). As
Rivers researches, he finds that he agrees more and more with Sassoon. The conflict between the
opinions of Dr. Rivers and Sassoon leads Rivers to question his standpoint and start leaning
toward some of the war ideologies Sassoon stands for.
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As a result of these changes of heart, Rivers begins to question the morality of his job.
Rivers wonders if he is responsible if, after being returned to mental fitness and the war by him,
his patients are killed at the front. Do their deaths lie on his conscience? Is he in the wrong for
curing patients with ailments caused by the war only in order to return them to the war? He
wonders if there is any chance that this will not lead to a relapse in the patients. The descriptions
given by Sassoon and other patients of the war and its atrocities heighten Rivers’ conflict of
conscience. At one point in Regeneration, Prior describes a time in the war to Rivers: “And you
start walking…In a straight line. Across open country. In broad daylight. Towards a line of
machine guns…Oh, and of course you’re being shelled all the way” (78). This and similar
conversations lead Rivers to continue questioning what he is doing along with his beliefs
concerning the war. Bill Delaney asserts, “Through him [Sassoon], Rivers begins to learn about
the realities of trench warfare and begins to doubt his role as a doctor responsible for
rehabilitating soldiers so that they can go back to killing and being killed.” The fear brought to
life by Sassoon causes a great shift in the opinion and actions of Dr. Rivers.
Another patient having great influence over the characterization of Dr. Rivers is Burns.
Burns is perhaps the most difficult patient at the hospital. He cannot eat because, after an
explosion, he was thrown face-down onto the ground. When his consciousness returned, he felt
something in his mouth, opened his mouth, and found that the mysterious object was human
flesh. Burns is the only patient in the hospital for whom Rivers is concerned only with his health
rather than his return to war. Rivers gets Burns discharged from the service, and he returns
home. Later in the novel, Burns sends Rivers a letter inviting him to visit. Rivers consents and
goes to the Suffolk Coast. Through Burns, Rivers learns how to have friends, not just patients
and colleagues. Expecting to have a conversation concerning Burns’ future, Rivers is shocked
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when Burns simply wants to visit. Their conversations are described by the narrator: “No
mention of Burns’s illness, no mention of the war. These were evidently taboo topics, but they
talked about a great range of other things” (169). However, the most influential moment
between Burns and Rivers occurs when this pretense is broken. During a storm, Rivers realizes
that Burns is missing. He finds him in a flooding cellar. Burns had sleep walked to the cellar
during a terrifying dream concerning the war. This moment negatively impacts Dr. Rivers’
opinion of the war. Rivers thinks, “Nothing can justify this. Nothing nothing nothing” (180181). This moment acts as a stake, driving the floating thoughts of disagreement with the war,
initiated by Sassoon, into Rivers’ mind. Also, in this moment, Rivers acknowledges that the
individual is of more importance than the greater good. Harris comments concerning Rivers: “his
personal attitudes toward the war change.” Burns forces Rivers to see the long-lasting atrocities
of the war and, thus, alters him forever.
The moment the reader witnesses the compounding effects of the forces acting upon Dr.
Rivers occurs when he encounters Dr. Yealland and strongly opposes the methods Yealland uses.
Dr. Yealland treats patients with physical manifestations of neurological conditions using
electroshock therapy. Rivers observes one of Yealland’s treatment sessions with a patient
incapable of speaking. To “cure” the patient, Yealland plans to apply electrical impulses to his
tongue until he is able to speak again. After the first application of the electrode, the condition of
the patient is described: “Callan was white and shaking, but it was impossible to tell how much
pain he was in, since obviously he could no more scream than he could speak” (230). Despite
the obvious pain the patient feels, Dr. Yealland refuses to stop the treatment. After being
shocked for over an hour, Callan attempts to escape. Yealland responds, “Such an idea of
leaving me now is most ridiculous. You cannot leave the room. The door is locked and the key
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is in my pocket” (231). Many parallels can be drawn between this type of treatment and torture.
The treatment does not seem helpful at all. Delaney states, “When the pathetic soldier finally is
pronounced ‘cured,’ the reader cannot help but feel that he will suffer a relapse as soon as he
returns to the front.” The methods used by Dr. Yealland are appalling, even to fellow
psychiatrist, Dr. Rivers.
Yet another terrifying aspect of Dr. Yealland’s treatment is the inferior manner in which
he treats patients. When Rivers goes on the rounds with Yealland, he notices the lack of interest
Yealland possesses in the patients he treats. He scolds one patient for asking questions
concerning his treatment. In fact, no one at the hospital seems to care about the well-being of the
patients; they only care that they can declare the patients “cured” and send them back to war.
This attitude is emphasized after Yealland has been treating Callan. They stop for a break and,
when Callan indicates that he is now able to continue with the treatment, Dr. Yealland looks at
him and states, “You must speak, but I shall not listen to anything you have to say” (231). The
wishes of the patients do not concern Yealland. His only concern is the success of the treatment.
Unlike Rivers, Yealland does not struggle to choose whether the patient or the greater good is
more important. If any internal struggle exists in Yealland, it is choosing between his personal
interest and his duty to the government. His treatments are focused on returning patients to war,
but he wants to return them only for the glory it brings him. Because of this, Yealland completes
the treatments as quickly as possible; he does not observe patients afterward to avoid relapse.
Rivers thoughts are described: “Rivers suspected he lost interest in the patients once the miracle
had been worked” (225). This derogatory treatment of patients is a perfect illustration of what
Delaney calls “the primitive state of psychotherapy of World War I.” Also, this attitude results
in the reader’s developing disrespect for Dr. Yealland as they read about him and, consequently,
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the reader’s increasing respect for Dr. Rivers as he sees Yealland’s work as terrible and
transforms even more to assure that they are not the same.
Dr. Rivers’ shocked response to these treatments arises from the vast differences in the
methods he uses to treat patients and those of Dr. Yealland. Eric Leed claims, “At worst, the
therapies administered to those made neurotic in war were acts of pure domination; at best, it
was the scene of negotiations between the demands of authority and the needs of the victims of
war” (qtd. in Mukherjee). Yealland represents the former, while Rivers represents the latter.
Rivers struggles because he is forced to send the patients back to war; he still cares about them
though. His treatments consist of talking to the patients. Rivers’ methods are described:
“Rivers’s treatment sometimes consisted simply of encouraging the patient to abandon his
hopeless attempt to forget, and advising him instead to spend some part of every day
remembering” (26). Rivers treats the underlying neurological cause rather than just the physical
symptoms. Logically, this type of treatment should prove more effective than that of Yealland,
who only treats the physical symptoms, completely ignoring the underlying cause. Another
difference in the treatment methods used by the two lies in Rivers’ love for patients compared to
Yealland’s lack of interest in patients. Rivers is completely different from Yealland, and readers
are forced to ask themselves if this would have been the case had Rivers encountered Yealland at
the beginning of the novel rather than at the end. Do the conflict of duty and responsibility and
his interactions with different patients cause him to be the man he is when he encounters Dr.
Yealland—the man completely opposed to such harsh treatments even if they enable patients to
return to war more quickly?
Rivers’ reactions to Dr. Yealland further change him. The treatments seem cruel to him.
The narrator describes his reactions: “It took an hour. Rivers during all that time scarcely
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moved. His empathy with the man in the chair kept him still” (230). Rivers is so shocked that
he has a nightmare concerning the event the following night. In the dream, Rivers attempts to
put an electrode into a patient’s mouth, causing great damage to the patient in the process.
Mukherjee explains, “The dream patient is a composite figure of Callan and Prior, or CallanPrior-Rivers-Sassoon…and Rivers can no longer deny his complicity in Yealland’s project.”
River begins to analyze his dream, gathering that it is a result of the guilt he feels due to the
similarities he sees between himself and Yealland. He infers, “Just as Yealland silenced the
unconscious protest of his patients…in an infinitely more gentle way, he silenced his patients”
(238). He attempted to stop their dreams, stammers, and silences, which are their protests
against the war. His colleague, Dr. Head, attempts to comfort Rivers: “You and Yealland doing
essentially the same thing…I can’t imagine anybody less like Yealland” (240). Despite this
encouragement, Rivers still doubts that he is different. Because of the fact that Rivers sees
similarities between the two methods, he begins to value the individual more than the state to an
even greater extent. As a result, readers see a completely different man at the end of novel than
they did at the beginning.
As Regeneration opens, Dr. Rivers seems like a typical psychiatrist working for the
government. He is loyal to his employer. The constant friction between this dedicated doctor
and the man who cares deeply for his patients and their true recovery, not just their return to war,
causes changes in Rivers. He begins to question valuing the greater good over the individual.
Furthermore, he encounters many patients who shape his dynamic character. Prior causes him to
throw away the mask of masculinity he wears for the benefit of society, Sassoon forces him to
question his war ideologies, and Burns provides an example of the atrocities of war. These
patients effectively turn Rivers into a predominantly pacifist figure. As the novel closes, Rivers’
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encounter with Dr. Yealland causes him to be more conscious of the methods he is using.
Because of this encounter, Rivers resolves the issue of choosing between the government and his
patients; he decides that patients have priority. The Rivers at the end of the novel is much more
likeable than the man that readers first encounter. The dynamic nature of his character leads the
reader to a full understanding of the way a person’s past can be overcome by present events,
completely altering his outlook on the future.
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Works Cited
Barker, Pat. Regeneration. New York: Plume, 1991. Print.
Delany, Bill. “Regeneration.” Magill’s Literary Annual 1993. (1993). Literary Reference
Center. Web. 20 Sept. 2010.
Harris, Greg. “Compulsory Masculinity, Britain, and the Great War: The Literary-Historic
Work of Pat Barker.” Critique 39.4 (Summer 1998): 290. Literary Reference Center.
Web. 14 Sept. 2010.
Knutsen, Karen. Reciprocal Haunting: Pat Barker’s “Regeneration” Trilogy. New York:
Waxmann, 2010. Print
Mukherjee, Ankhi. “Stammering to Story: Neurosis and Narration in Pat Barker’s
Regneration.” Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction 43.1 (Fall 2001): 49. Literary
Resource Center. Web. 14 Sept. 2010.