BIRDSONG THEMES (2)

BIRDSONG THEMES (2)

1. Boundaries of human behaviour

   • Faulks was intrigued that no one ever said ''...enough, we cannot go on and still call ourselves human.''
   • ''This is not a war, this is an exploration of how far men can be degraded.''p150
   • '''It sounds strange, but we have degraded human life so far that we must leave some space for dignity to grow again.''p282
   • ''He was surprised at his own brutality; he assumed it was caused by fear.'' p172
   • ''It can't go on, can it? It just can't? p149

2. Redemption

   • ''If I am fighting on behalf of anyone, I think it is for those who have died.''p295
   • ''...nothing was immoral or beyond redemption all could be brought together, understood in the long perspective of forgiveness.''p363
   • ''There is a human need... if a child's world is broken up by too much reality, that need goes underground.''p193

3. Love and Relationships

   • ''...she was choking with passion.'' p58
   • '''...he had no wish to love any of these men more than any other, knowing what lay in store for them.''p345
   • ''Your friendship enables me to survive.''
   • ''Love is more important than the flesh and blood facts of who gave birth to whom..''p494
   • ''...but no tears would come to expre ss his desolation or his love for poormad Weir.''p386
   • ''...closeness of human contact, not forced by mixity of wars, buprot given willingly, from friendship.''p317

4. Social Class

   • ''...Shouldn't you be in your dugout having a nice cup of tea?'p168
   • ''Stephen had been promoted from the ranks because he had a better education.''p145

5. Innocence and Experience

   • '''We are fighting for out country.''p293
   • ''I can't do it, Wraysford...It's just a tiny bird. It's done nothing wrong.''p305
   • ''He thought of the pity of the flesh gone back underground without knowledge of another human body.''p386

6. Identity and Belonging

   • ''I don't have parents'' p56
   • ''It's because I don't value my life enough. I have no sense of the scale of these sacrifices. I don't know what anything is worth.''p164
   • ''He felt more lonely than ever in his life before.''p385