Synopsis

Category: Strange Meeting - New A-Level Edition
By W Lawrance

Updated: 03 Sep, 2007 - 13:48:26

PART ONE

It is the summer of 1916. John Hilliard is on convalescent leave, having been wounded in the leg at the beginning of the Battle of the Somme. He is staying at his parents’ house on the coast, recovering from his injury. He is unable to sleep properly and, on the night before he is due to return to France, he lies awake remembering his time in hospital when he was first injured. The memories of the sights and sounds of the men around him all come flooding back, together with his meeting with a childhood acquaintance, named Crawford, who is serving in France in a hospital behind the lines. Hilliard feels resentment towards Crawford because of his non-combatant status, even though he knows this is unreasonable - after all, someone must tend to the wounded and dying.

In the hospital, Hilliard had been unable to sleep because of all the noises of men suffering and the general disturbances in the ward. Now he is at home, he has no desire to sleep. He tries to force himself to stay awake and thinks about his homecoming. He feels he does not belong with his family any more. He knows that he has changed while everything in England has remained the same. Eventually, however, exhaustion overwhelms him and he sleeps. Then the dreams begin. At first they are relatively happy as he dreams of his sister Beth and the relationship which they used to share. Then there are the nightmares in which he has visions of piles of corpses. He wakes suddenly, feeling sick and remembering that the following day he will return to France. This thought leaves him feeling contented - he wants to go back.

Although it is still the early hours of the morning, he rises and goes for a walk on the beach. He thinks about how out of touch the people at home are with the reality of the war. His parents, sister and even the Major (a family friend) are full of complacency and sometimes arrogance about the conflict. They have all formed their own opinions, based on newspaper reports and hearsay, but have no idea and little interest in what is really happening in France. He thinks he can hear the thudding of the guns in the distance, but wonders whether this is just his imagination playing tricks. Then, he recalls childhood events with Beth - memories of calmer and happier days, when she had protected and helped him.

He returns to the house and wakes his sister, believing that he wants to explain his feelings to her - to unburden himself and tell her what the war is really like. Unsure of how to begin, he hesitates and Beth takes this opportunity to tell him that she is going to marry a lawyer named Henry Partington - a man twice her age, widowed, with one son. John’s moment is lost, as he realises that Beth has also changed and that he can no longer confide in her. Although he is initially confused by her choice of husband, John soon comes to understand that Beth is taking the only option available to her if she wants to marry and leave home.

End of sample text taken from an article contained in the "Strange Meeting" category.