Conflicting Narratives of Obligation
Conscientious Objectors and Deserters in Canadian Great War Fiction
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12914677 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Anna Branach‐kalla (0000-0001-5754-1906, Nicolaus Copernicus University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 271-284 |
| Publication date | 2015-10-02 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of War and Culture Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1752-6272 • E-ISSN: 1752-6280 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17526272.2015.1108578 |
| OpenAlex | W2244698798 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 3 |
The article is an analysis of representations of conscientious objectors and deserters in Canadian Great War fiction. The First World War caused widespread enthusiasm in Canada for what was seen as a crusade in defence of a sacred Cause. Propaganda used the Christian concept of a ‘final war’ for a peaceful order and young Canadian volunteers were a central element of this myth: they were seen as peace-makers forced to become warriors in a global conflict that was to be the last of all wars. Given the patriotic attitude of most Canadians, young men in Canada were therefore under much pressure to enlist. In the introduction, the article presents the fragmentation of the Canadian peace movement at the beginning of the war and discusses the difficult situation of conscientious objectors in Canada. Starting with the figure of Quentin Thatcher in Philip Child's God's Sparrows (1937), my intention is to analyse the conflicting loyalties of conscientious objectors and the complex ways they negotiated between the dictates of their conscience and the official charges of cowardice and selfishness. The paper focuses subsequently on the figure of Robert Ross, the protagonist of Timothy Findley's The Wars (1977) and his ambiguous act of protest. Finally, I analyse figures of objectors and deserters in Rain Before Morning (2006), in which Mike Poole depicts the dramatic attempts made by young Canadians to avoid conscription despite the decision of a local tribunal. The conflicting concepts of obligation are interpreted in reference to the historical context, in particular the early twentieth-century discourses of masculinity and citizenship
Conscience · Conscientious objector · Military service · Moral obligation · Obligation · Political science · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Tribunal · Canadian Identity and History · History · Law · Military, Security, and Education Studies · World Wars: History, Literature, and Impact
| Highly cited | No |
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