Sense of loss, Nostalgia and Irony in Rebecca West’s The Return of the Soldier

Abstract

This research work examines how war-generated sense of loss and nostalgia are expressed ironically in Rebecca West’s novel The Return of the Soldier. The novel combines the ironic sense of loss, nostalgia and the ironic consequences of the war in order to reflect the reality of the British society during the World War I through the narration of a character Jenny. The study mainly focuses on how the characters in the novel suffer from the ironic effect of the war, sense of loss and nostalgia. Illness, destruction, fragmentations, loss and reversal of gender role are the main ideas of the narration. People and the society are unable to gain their idyllic past that the characters seem to be longing for. The major characters like Kitty, Jenny, Margaret and Chris expose the real picture of the ironic situations of war, nostalgia and sense of loss in ironic way. Similarly, West’s political irony can be seen when she subverts the gender role by giving feminine characteristics to a male character Chris and manly characteristics to the female characters Margaret and Jenny.