Scarcity of War

“After that we sat a long, long while- Clive on the floor and me in the chair and Amanda on my lap. Then I said: why are Robert and Barbara so afraid? And Clive said: everyone they’ve loved has died. And I said: everybody dies. And Clive said: yes- but everybody isn’t killed. Then I said: that’s why Lady Sorrel lights her candles, isn’t it. So the Earl of Bath won’t perish. And Clive said: Yes. He said that in a way being loved is like being told you never have to die. And I said: Yes- but it doesn’t save you, does it. And he said: No- but it saves your sanity. Then I said: Are you afraid? And he said: Yes. And then I didn’t cry any more. Because he smiled.” (Findley 161)

This dialogue of Juliet and Clive was acquired from Juliet d’Orseys diary many years back. Clive is about to depart to war with Robert and this conversation took place before hand. Juliet was wondering why Robert was so afraid, and the answer to that is that everyone around Robert has either died or something about them has died. Juliet, since she is just a little girl, didn’t fully understand this interpretation of death, and didn’t get the meaning of why he is so afraid. Scarcity in the war is a normal emotion. The thought of death is always on a soldiers mind in the battlefield, never knowing which day will be your last. Robert has endeavored a great amount of death so far in the war with many of his war colleagues to family members passing away before his eyes. This takes a definite toll on soldiers, watching your friends die in front of you like that. This is why insanity strikes in many soldiers throughout the war. Many soldiers feel afraid about death and the constant fear that these soldiers live with really affects the mentality of these soldiers to the point of insanity in most cases.

Many people do not understand the psychological aspect of war and what war does to a soldier because to know what soldiers have to deal with, you would have to be put in that same condition. Soldiers have to put up with many devastating events throughout their term, and no wonder these men go insane. Just imagine the state of mind a soldier must have to survive in the war, first of all a soldier has to deal with death surrounding one another, and lack of sleep, lack of nourishment, etc. All of these factors and more, day after day, and I’m not just talking about a small period of time. These soldiers had to put up these conditions for years on end. Scarcity of death is just one attribute that affects a soldiers mind, so no wonder many of these men lose their sanity because of war.