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56 pages 1 hour read

Vera Brittain

Testament of Youth

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1933

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Introduction-Chapter 2 Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction Summary

The introduction to Brittain’s memoir is written by her biographer Mark Bostridge. He describes Brittain’s purpose as well as her goals in writing the memoir; as a pacifist, Brittain’s aim in writing is to discourage the glamorization of war and the notion of “heroism in the abstract” (ix). Bostridge continues to discuss the popularity of Testament of Youth upon its publication in 1933 and in the decades that followed. A television series as well as a film version of Brittain’s memoir cemented its reputation and renewed interest in the book, making Testament of Youth “the most widely read British autobiography of the First World War” (xi).

According to Bostridge, within months of Roland Leighton’s death, Brittain begins thinking about how to document her experience and that of her brother Edward and two other close friends who went to war. Brittain also writes and publishes poetry as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse during the war, and after the war, her first novel is also published. In 1922, six years after Leighton’s death, Brittain begins to re-read her diary, observing the potential in her earlier words to inspire a longer personal piece of writing. Brittain attempts fiction-writing at least two more times before reading the works of other autobiographers like Robert Graves and deciding that autobiography is her best option. 

Brittain’s writing process is not straightforward, Bostridge explains. In December 1929, soon after she starts writing Testament of Youth, Brittain learns she is pregnant with her second child, and she struggles to write while simultaneously raising two young children. Issues around copyright emerge, which means that she has to paraphrase the letters from her brother, her fiancé, and her friends. As well, her husband, George Catlin, protests Brittain’s presentation of their relationship in the book, which necessitates lengthy revisions. Testament of Youth is finally published in August 1933, and accolades and fan letters soon follow. One alarming piece of news arrives, however, soon after publication; after reading the autobiography, Edward’s commanding officer is compelled to contact Brittain in order to tell her the real circumstances around her brother’s death. Edward had been discovered to have been involved sexually with men in his company, a crime for which he would have been court-martialed, and the officer “wondered whether Edward had deliberately sought death to avoid the inevitable disgrace” (xx). 

Bostridge concludes the introduction with a discussion of the tension that cannot help but exist between a work of autobiography and a work of history. Brittain is a thorough researcher, which enables her to write about the war accurately and factually, and she relies on quotations from her own diary and from the letters of others to create vibrant characters and life events. Despite these efforts, Bostridge notes, Brittain’s use of literary devices to communicate a sense of realness “distorted biographical truth” (xxi). For example, at one time, Brittain was actually swept up in the excitement generated by the war, an admission that does not appear in the autobiography as it is contrary to Brittain’s aims as a pacifist writer about war. As well, Bostridge points out that though Brittain writes about her belief that her experiences were typical, “of course they are not” (xxii). Also problematic is Brittain’s claim that the deaths of junior officers like her brother and her fiancé indicate the loss of an entire generation of men; this notion is statistically untrue though many young men who attended Oxbridge and/or public schools like the one her brother attended became junior officers whose “mortality rates [were] significantly higher than those of other officers, or of the British army as a whole” (xxii).

Chapter 1 Summary: “Forward from Newcastle”

Chapter 1 begins with a description of Brittain’s early childhood in the town of Macclesfield, England. Brittain also provides the reader with a brief genealogical history of her father’s family. For much of Brittain’s life, her father is the director of a successful paper mill, a business endeavor founded by his great-grandfather, and his marriage to Brittain’s mother was met with disapproval because “she was without money or pedigree, and had nothing but her shy and wistful prettiness to recommend her” (5). After they married, Brittain’s parents lived in Newcastle, where Brittain was born in 1893, and the family stayed for 18 months after the birth before moving to Macclesfield. There, Brittain and her younger brother Edward enjoyed a serene childhood. Despite this sense of peace, vague early memories of the South African War in 1899 mar Brittain’s remembrances as well as the deaths of an uncle and the Queen Victoria in January of 1901. As a child, Brittain was prayerful, a quality she loses later in life when such devotion during wartime is revealed to have “nothing in it” (8). 

Brittain characterizes her father as somewhat volatile, though he often took her side when she was young. While remembering her childhood days, Brittain discusses her many irrational fears that were never explained to her in a way to make them less frightening. She laments this absence of understanding as her experience with fears only stayed with her well into maturity. As a child, Brittain’s household was full of music, a passion of her mother’s and eventually, her brother’s. Brittain recalls a sense of disappointment with the limited availability of books in her childhood home, noting that a copy of Household Medicine fascinated her; the explanations of menstruation, sex, and childbirth held her attention in particular. Volumes of Matthew Arnold, Henry Longfellow, and Charles Dickens soon joined the collection, inspiring the young Vera to write stories that fascinated her younger brother Edward.

At the age of 11, Brittain’s governess leaves the family, and they move to a house in nearby Buxton so that Brittain and Edward could attend school. When Brittain once intermingled over a low wall with Edward and several of his new friends, she was scolded for her behavior as girls were not permitted to talk in public with boys. This negative attitude towards the mixing of boys and girls stayed with Brittain, whose own experience with single-sex education was confusing and, at times, problematic. At her school for girls, Brittain excelled academically, but she was bullied cruelly.

As Brittain describes her own experiences as a young student, she reflects on the education her parents received. Thanks to their adequate but unsophisticated learning, she spends her first 13 years trapped by “the stuffiness of complacent bourgeoisdom” (16), a characteristic she identifies as typical of many middle-class households in the Midlands region. At the age of 13, Brittain goes to a boarding school in Surrey called St. Monica’s where her aunt is a principal. Here, Brittain develops her ambition to go to college and is supported in her goals; at home, however, her parents prefer a good marriage for their daughter. Brittain is single-minded in her resolve, but her mind is at times occupied by more frivolous concerns like fashion, especially when her comfort, and her burgeoning feminism, are concerned. Brittain mentions two friendships, one with a woman named Mina, who is later critical of Brittain for Brittain’s reaction to the death of her fiancé, and one with a woman named Betty, whose friendship endures. 

Brittain’s days at St. Monica’s are vivid in Brittain’s memory, and she describes the natural landscape fondly. Similarly vivid is Brittain’s remembrance of the frustration she felt at the time due to her parents’ unsupportive attitude towards her ambitions to go to Oxford. At St. Monica’s, Brittain’s attachment to feminist ideals takes hold, and she credits one inspirational teacher, Miss Heath Jones, for introducing her to the women’s movement and for encouraging her and others to read the newspapers. Brittain recalls a moment of reflection she experienced in the garden at St. Monica’s where she “visualized in rapt childish ecstasy a world in which women would no longer be the second-rate, unimportant creatures that they were now considered” (26), an imagining interrupted by the news of impending war and Brittain’s 18th birthday, soon after which Brittain leaves school to return to Buxton.

Chapter 1 concludes with Brittain’s commentary on the romantic and idealistic flights of fancy that characterize her diary entries at this time in her life. Excerpts from poems by Paul Verlaine and William Noel Hodgson intermingle with Brittain’s own words “to give some idea of the effect of the War” (29) on girls of her status and situation to the reader. 

Chapter 2 Summary: “Provincial Young-Ladyhood”

Chapter 2 begins in 1912, when Brittain returns home to Buxton from St. Monica’s to be presented to society and to attend dances, play cards, and pass time “in all those conventional pursuits with which the leisured young woman of every generation has endeavoured to fill the time that she is not qualified to use” (35). At this time, Brittain’s father expresses his belief that he had already spent sufficient money on Brittain’s education, an announcement that depresses Brittain, who feels even more isolated in her provincial middle-class existence. Brittain explains that two things gave her grace at this time in her life: her diary and a vicar in a nearby village whose eloquent sermons Brittain finds inspirational.

Brittain offers an affectionate description of her brother Edward, whose interests and talents are primarily musical; his passion for the violin outweighs his interests in academic pursuits. Though Brittain’s father intends for Edward to go into the family paper-mill business, Edward imagines a future as “a famous conductor-composer” (41). Though Brittain acknowledges that her father’s support for Edward’s education appears boundless, she explains that she felt no jealousy. Despite her generous attitude towards her brother, when a respected family friend comes to dinner and speaks matter-of-factly about the merits of higher education for women, Brittain is elated, knowing that the guest’s opinions matter to her father. Soon after this dinner in 1913, Brittain begins attending a springtime lecture series delivered by Oxford don Sir John Marriott, a man who “represents the deus ex machina of my unsophisticated youth” (44). Sir John compliments Brittain’s enthusiasm for learning and the essays she writes in response his lectures, and his positive comments embolden her to speak openly to her parents of her desire to go to Oxford. Eventually, her father agrees, allowing Brittain to go to Oxford for one year.

Brittain’s career at Oxford begins with the Summer School session the following summer. One evening, Sir John invites her to dinner at his home with his family, and there, Brittain explains that she had planned to apply to Somerville, the only non-denominational college and “the most difficult of all of the women’s colleges to enter” (48). Brittain describes her first meeting with the Principal of Somerville in painful detail, from the fabric of Brittain’s inappropriate dress to the extensive examinations she would have to endure in order to try for a space at the college. At the end of the summer session, Brittain returns home and speaks with Edward about her plans; he gives her encouragement, so Brittain begins immediately to study for a scholarship examination she had previously assumed was out of reach. Brittain spends the months to follow immersed in English literature, mathematics, and Latin, seeking tutoring for the latter two subjects at a nearby school for boys. From August 1913 to April 1914, Brittain is focused on these subjects, though the rumors that quickly spread throughout Buxton about her future as a lecturer rankle her. The women of Buxton complain about Brittain’s eccentricity and willfulness, a situation that also affects her mother, who was criticized for jeopardizing Brittain’s chance for a decent marriage. In March 1914, Brittain travels to Oxford for the four-day examination schedule. At the first exam, Brittain sits unmoving for an hour, paralyzed by anxiety, but once she recovers her wits, she writes steadily. Brittain describes the shock she felt at sharing meals with her competitors; she calls herself a “sensitive plant […] sheltered in the greenhouse warmth of bourgeois comfort and provincial elegance” (57), a circumstance which did not prepare her for the utilitarian standards of food quality and cleanliness that she encounters at Oxford during this time. Brittain learns a week later that she has won a place at Somerville for the following fall, provided she pass another set of examinations to take place in July 1914. 

Not long after this announcement, a friend of Edward’s from Uppingham School comes to Buxton for a few days during the Easter holiday in 1914. Brittain had once read a poem by this young man, named Roland Leighton, the year before while Edward worked to put the poem to music. Despite her best efforts to appear aloof and disinterested in the goings-on of her younger brother and his friend, Brittain is soon impressed with Roland’s ideas about literature, religion, and immortality; she finds his physical appearance as compelling as his intellect. While describing a long walk she took with Roland, Brittain weaves in a love poem of his that she finds later, after his death, a poem containing mention of the same walk and discussion they had regarding the afterlife. Roland and Brittain continue to spend much of their time together as Edward is occupied writing a sonata; when Brittain must leave for a pre-arranged trip to see relatives, she “suddenly felt so unwilling to go” (66). Upon her return home to Buxton, she finds that Roland has sent her a book, and this book, as well as confusing thoughts about Roland, distracts her from her studies. When the news of Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination appears in June 1914, Brittain does not take notice.

This chapter concludes with a lengthy description of Speech Day, an event for the young men who are finishing their courses at Uppingham School; Roland invites Brittain to attend this event, an invitation her mother grants as they both can go to show their support for Edward at the same time. Both Roland and Edward wear their uniforms to the event, representing their membership in the Officers’ Training Corps at Uppingham, and Brittain writes of “an ominous stillness, an atmosphere of brooding expectation” (69) that she remembers hanging over the celebrations. Brittain notices in her program that Roland is to receive numerous academic awards, and later, because no members of Roland’s family attend the event, she sits with him at the meal provided for the leavers and their guests. After the post-lunch concert, Roland and Brittain finally enjoy a brief opportunity to talk by themselves, only to be interrupted by Roland’s housemaster. Brittain says goodbye to Roland at the end of the day, driving home in irritable silence with her mother. 

Mere weeks before war breaks out in Europe, Brittain sits for her last round of examinations in July of 1914, and shortly after the war begins in August, she learns she has passed. Her excitement is mitigated by her father’s anxiety. A family quarrel ensues, leading Brittain to feel for the moment that “the War at first seemed to me an infuriating personal interruption” (74).

Introduction-Chapter 2 Analysis

The introduction of the autobiography, written by Brittain’s biographer Mark Bostridge, illuminates some major points regarding Brittain’s character and life experience. His objective point of view and thorough research reveal the inconsistencies in Brittain’s memories, something she herself acknowledges must exist in a personal history such as Testament of Youth. He also offers a more complete summary of the historical backdrop against which the events of Brittain’s life takes place. Though he is deeply admiring of Brittain’s work, Bostridge is a faithful documentarian, and his admiration does not interfere with his objectivity; at one point in the introduction, for example, Bostridge is careful to explain that though the notion of an entire generation of young men lost to the war is a popular one, it is statistically impossible. Brittain’s personal attachment to this idea makes sense, as she lost her fiancé, her brother, and two dear friends—all of whom were talented, well-educated individuals—to the trenches, but the facts and the numbers simply do not support this claim.

The first two chapters of Testament of Youth contain a detailed description of Brittain’s pre-war life, and these details create a portrait of Brittain as a precocious young woman striving for more than what her provincial village can offer. She includes a brief summary of her family history, descriptions of her parents, and a biting social critique of Buxton, the village in the Midlands of England in which she grows up. From an early age, Brittain appears to have been intellectually voracious, finding her home library as well as the local library lacking; as well, Brittain’s feminist leanings sprout from her many observations of female behaviors in Buxton, most of which seem to irritate her with their conventional complacency. These early feminist impulses gain strength and momentum as Brittain matures and sees more of the dramatically changing world in which she lives.

At times, Brittain’s tone is self-aware; she acknowledges her own sense of superiority over her neighbors, and even over her parents, while describing her interactions with the people closest to her. For example, her father’s provincial attachment to Victorian ideals, demonstrated by his reluctance to pay for Brittain’s education at Oxford University, infuriates her, intensifying Brittain’s growing sense of injustice around the gender norms of this era. She characterizes herself as academically ambitious, desiring to make a name for herself at Oxford and beyond; philosophical thoughts around life and death, poetry, and other lofty subjects dominate her imagination. Brittain’s descriptions of her studies in preparation for her entrance exams is also revealing; she is tireless in her pursuit of her goal, a personal characteristic that serves her well as a volunteer nurse and as a survivor of the atrocities of war later in life. 

In these early chapters, Brittain introduces to the reader the relationships she has with two important men, both of whom she will lose to the war: her younger brother Edward, and his friend from Uppingham School, Roland Leighton. Brittain describes her brother Edward with loving and gentle honesty, a departure from the harshness of Brittain’s tone when discussing social matters and individuals who appear to stand in the way of her personal progress; Brittain’s friendship with Edward is uniquely profound, and their shared interest in attending Oxford brings them closer together. Several months before the start of the war, Brittain develops a romantic interest in Roland Leighton, a friend of Edward’s from his boarding school and an impressively clever and intellectual young man. Brittain gradually unfolds the details of their friendship and her own feelings for Roland; in this manner, the reader understands Brittain’s slow development of her love affair alongside Brittain herself, and the pathos of these sections intensifies the reader’s own sense of loss when Roland’s death is announced in Chapter 5. 

 

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