Inspiration in Private Expressions through Dialogue

Contrary to official expressions using written words which often produce miscommunication, private expressions using dialogue are more reliable in the Sword of Honour trilogy. In the trilogy, Wau gh maintains his belief that humans should be responsible for their own words, especiall y for sincere communication. This belief arouses readers ’ interests in the issue of dialogue. As examples of this belief, Waugh describes numerous scenes where dialogue leads the characters to the next step in their life. Among them, especiall y, two important scenes must be examined. One is Guy’s calling out to his father, and the other is his conversation with a foreign woman. Both of these scenes show that his dialogue with somebody inspires him to experience an awakening.

The former example is seen at Guy ’s father’s funeral in Book Two of Unconditional Surrender. Thinking about his own death, which was so near in the battlefield, and will be near again in his n ext mission, Guy pra ys at the funeral. This scene is described: “Guy’s pra yers were directed to, rather than for, his father ” (SHT 540). Usuall y prayers are raised to God for

somebody or something. Therefore, the quotation suggests that, at this moment, Gu y is tryi ng to talk to both his father and God. In other words, in Guy’s heart, his father is equivalent to God. Waugh describes, “He[Guy]

reported for dut y saying to God: ‘I don’t ask anything from you’” (SHT 540, emphasis added). As Guy calls God “you,” this talk is his dialogue with God. In fact, the word “vocation” comes from “vocare” in Latin (“vocation”), which means “to call,” with connotation of “voice” or

“vocal”; and “vocation” means what is given by God following the caller ’s appeal. So, it is no t contentious to say that Guy is talking with God at this moment. Guy’s psychology here is described in detail as follows:

In the recesses of Guy’s conscience there lay the belief that somewhere, somehow, something would be required of him; that he must be attentive to the summons when it came. They also served who onl y stood and waited. . . . One day he would get the chance to do some small service which onl y he could perform, for which he had been created. (SHT 540)

Actuall y, this state of mind is almost the same as the one Waugh writes about vocation in his essay “St. Helena Empress. ” The above-quoted

sentence is substantiall y the same as the sentence in this essay: “He [God]

wants a different thing from each of us, . . . something which onl y we ca n do and for which we were each created ” (EAR 410). Waugh put s the same belief that he wrote in the essay fifteen years previousl y into the last novel of the trilogy, reconfirming his thoughts about vocation. Although God does not respond to Guy quickl y, G uy graduall y thinks of what God wants from him. If he can find his role in life, it means that God is replying to him. In this way, his dialogue with God continues. This is the first example of the important talks Guy experiences in pursuing the meaning of his life.

The second example of dialogue is also concerned with Waugh ’s thoughts on vocation, maintained throughout the Sword of Honour trilogy.

In Unconditional Surrender, Guy is dispatched to Yugoslavia and meets a Jewish woman, Mme Kanyi, who is the le ader of a Jewish refugee group.

Escaping from persecution by the German arm y, these refugees are trying to cross Yugoslavia. While Guy is making an effort to help them flee from

their predicament, he comes to talk with Mme Kanyi privately. Mme Kanyi condemns the will to war which is found everywhere, speaking as follows:

‘Is there any place that is free from evil? It is too simple to say that onl y Nazis wanted war. These communists wanted it too.

It was the onl y wa y in which they could come to power. Many of m y people wanted it, to be revenged on the Germans, to hasten the creation of the national state. It seems to me there was a will to war, a death wish, everywhere. Even good men thought their private honour would be satisfied by war. They could accept t heir manhood by killing and being killed. They would accept hardships in recompense for having been selfish and laz y. Danger justified privilege. I knew Italians – not very many perhaps – who felt this.

Were there none in England? ’

‘God forgive me, ’ said Guy. ‘I was one of them. ’ (SHT 702)

Mme Kanyi’s words blame not onl y Nazi Germany, but all the soldiers who are connected with this war. Guy agrees with her, and admits that he is one of them. At this moment, he realizes that his thought and philosophy are wrong. Although her words completel y refute Guy’s belief, held up till then, that he is a good soldier, he does not protest. In fact, he has already lost all the most precious things to him in the war – his friends, father, and wife. Guy, who has come through life -and-death struggles in the war,

notices at this moment the fact that he also thought his “private honour would be satisfied by war, ” and that the present situation is the harsh end of his quest which started at the tomb of Sir Roger. He calmly answers that

she is right, admitting t hat he was among such men with a will to war, a death wish. After this conversation, and following a few more episodes of Guy’s departure from Yugoslavia, the Sword of Honour trilogy comes to an end. At the end of Unconditional Surrender, Guy retreats to his home and never returns to military service. This shows that his dialogue with Mme Kanyi led him to experience revelation. It is surel y possible to see here the author’s strong consciousness of the potentialit y of dialogue.

It is necessary to examine in more detail the role of Mme Kanyi in the process of Guy’s spiritual awakening. Although Christianit y plays a significant role in Waugh ’s earl y works, there are no scenes where a member of a completel y different religion admonishes a Christian. In Helena, Waugh breaks this rule and has a wandering Jew appear before the heroine to help her find the True Cross. In Unconditional Surrender, Waugh goes a step further. Mme Kanyi in Unconditional Surrender is not onl y a civilian but one of the Jewish refugees, the most violentl y oppressed people in the Second World War. In a sense, she is the opposite of Guy, who

eagerl y attends to his military duties, following the image of an ancient Crusader. However, she never thinks that her race is the only victim.

Instead, she condemns a “death wish” that swept across Europe and

absorbed many people during the earl y twentieth century. A “death wish ” is a violent impulse to ruin both oneself and others. It is commonl y seen not onl y in individuals but also among the masses; not onl y in Totalitarianism and Fascism but also in anti -Totalitarianism and anti -Fascism. Guy was also one of those who w ere possessed by the impulse^{1 5}. He had an ardent wish to crush the evil totalitarian countries (Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union) by joining the war. It is at this very time that Mme Kanyi appears before

Guy. She indicates to him a clear road through wartime Europe, and

awakens him. In this way, her role takes her one step forward from that of the mere wandering Jew. As it were, she is a sy mbol of Jesus, who was absent from Helena. Her subsequent death by hanging, executed by the People’s Court, strengthens this interpretation. It would be no exaggeration to regard Mme Kanyi, one of the most victimised refugees in the story, and the woman who awakens a guy (a common noun), as Jesus in the Second World War.