In The Return of The Soldier, Chris had experienced war in a literal way by leaving his home, his wife and family and entering war and going through the traumatic events soldiers would go through. Chris experiences both physical and emotional trauma throughout the book, but not being in the middle of battle does not mean someone cannot be affected the same way. Chris being in the war affected Kitty just as much, yet she was affected more emotionally than physically like Chris. In the beginning, Kitty acts in a positive light about the situation that she is in, Kitty speaks: ‘‘if a woman began to worry in these days because her husband hadn’t written her for a fortnight!’’ (3). Though Chris hadn’t contacted her; she acts as though she is not
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If Chris had not lost his memory, Margaret would not have come back into the picture, which could have taken much of the stress and problems away from Kitty and Jenny’s lives for the time being, but it would mean Chris would have never come home and anything worse could have happened to him. Pinkerton states: ‘’Chris is undergoing something still, that the trauma itself cannot be traced to a specific incident or point in time but rather continues to occur’’ (4). Pinkerton also writes: ‘’But West hints in various ways that trauma predates Oliver’’ (3). A lot of the trauma that Chris faced, had been a long time coming according to Pinkerton: ‘’(was their whole marriage traumatic?)’’ (3), When Frank went to go see Chris after hearing about his concussion he received during the war, when Chris was informed of his marriage with Kitty, he did not sound thrilled in the least when Frank described who he had been married to for the last ten years. Chris goes off: ‘’I don’t like little women, and I hate anybody, male or female, who sings. O God, I don’t like this Kitty. Take her away!’’ (19). If Chris had known Kitty would see what he had said about her, even though he didn’t know exactly who she was at the time, he would not have said anything bad about her. Chris shows he cares, and feels bad about the situation during the scene where they first see each other because he tries to make it better and less awkward, West writes:
If Chris had not lost his memory, Margaret would not have come back into the picture, which could have taken much of the stress and problems away from Kitty and Jenny’s lives for the time being, but it would mean Chris would have never come home and anything worse could have happened to him. Pinkerton states: ‘’Chris is undergoing something still, that the trauma itself cannot be traced to a specific incident or point in time but rather continues to occur’’ (4). Pinkerton also writes: ‘’But West hints in various ways that trauma predates Oliver’’ (3). A lot of the trauma that Chris faced, had been a long time coming according to Pinkerton: ‘’(was their whole marriage traumatic?)’’ (3), When Frank went to go see Chris after hearing about his concussion he received during the war, when Chris was informed of his marriage with Kitty, he did not sound thrilled in the least when Frank described who he had been married to for the last ten years. Chris goes off: ‘’I don’t like little women, and I hate anybody, male or female, who sings. O God, I don’t like this Kitty. Take her away!’’ (19). If Chris had known Kitty would see what he had said about her, even though he didn’t know exactly who she was at the time, he would not have said anything bad about her. Chris shows he cares, and feels bad about the situation during the scene where they first see each other because he tries to make it better and less awkward, West writes: