Role of Circumstance in Rebecca West's The Return of the Soldier

Abstract

This study analyzes how the circumstance has played significant role in shaping the action of the characters in Rebecca West's novel, The Return of the Soldier. On the one hand, the study reveals how characters are being controlled by circumstance and on the other hand, it questions the traditional notion of authorial intention by showing that, it is not the author who shapes the action and role of the characters rather it is the circumstance, by which characters are guided. Everything in the novel is revealed by Jenny's narration. Illness, fragmentation, chaos, failure are some of the core issues, around which the story moves. These issues are not created by the intention of author or characters but formed by circumstance. Whole story is in the form of chain and cause and effect relationship where A leads towards B,B leads towards C and it goes till to the end. B would not happen in the absence of A. Before action A is responsible for after action B. That is why the preceding action itself shapes another coming action. Neither the narrator nor the author could stop something from happening. In this way, this thesis attempts to dismantle the conventional notion of the role of author in shaping the action of story by introducing the role of circumstance as a controlling mechanism both for characters and actions.