Generation by Pat Barker

Regeneration and Journey’s End are both very distinctive pieces of literature however one similarity they share is the experience of soldiers on the frontline during World war One. Setting is used in a variety of ways between both works to create the traumatic experience of WW1 . Barker used descriptive writing throughout the novel Regeneration for the readers to imagine the setting. However Journey’s End used setting differently. As it is a play, it uses a lot of techniques to engage the audience with its setting such as lighting, props and dialogue.
"Regeneration" was written by Pat Barker in the 1980's, which has enabled her to gather a lot of information about the war. Pat's grandfather had been bayoneted during the war. His experiences in the war may have influenced Barker's understanding of the period, making the effect of the war more immediate and personal. Alternatively, "Journey's End" was written by a playwright who had firsthand experience in the war. His play is based upon real life experiences, mirroring the way he and his comrades lived and fought as the playwright himself was an officer in the war, and was injured at the battle of Passchendaele, the play is made even more intimate than the novel "Regeneration"
Regeneration is set in Craiglockhart mental hospital in Scotland, although this is hundreds of miles away from the frontline, Barker is still able to show the trauma and both physical and mostly mental suffering that the war has caused to soldiers. Having such a setting has allowed the author to isolate the theme of mental breakdown. The introduction to the ‘’grey cavernous bulk of a place’ sets the tone of the setting of this institution.
On the other hand, Journey’s End’s setting is in the dangerzone, ju...

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...Pat Barker describes that ‘Rain had blurred the landscape’, this is the same as when you have tears in your eyes, which implies sadness. The colour ‘grey’ lacks vibrancy and life and matches the weather along with Burns’ mood. The effect of ‘rain blur’ shows that he is so used to the war setting that he no longer knows beyond the war, perhaps lost his perception on what normalcy is like.
To conclude, a variety of techniques has been used to present how setting explores issues of World War One in both pieces of Literature. In my opinion, even though both texts are different genres, I find that ‘Journey’s End’ is most effective to showing how setting explores issue in the war. This is because it is firsthand due to Sheriff being a captain in the First World War. In addition to that, it also has more of a realistic opinion of war when in contrast to ‘’Regeneration’.