Essay on Defeat by Osbert Sitwell

Analysis of 'Defeat' by Osbert Sitwell. 1948.

The short short story 'Defeat' takes place on a Sunday afternoon on French Vichy-territory after the German invasion of France in 1940. Our characters, a Captain from the disbanded French army, his fiancé, Estelle, and her mother, Mrs Dorien, are meeting for cake and tea on the terrace of a café in the public gardens.

While trying to keep up appearances, our main character, the Captain, struggles with the aftermath of the brutal and momentous experiences he had on the battlefields. The rest of the party, however, reflects the general behaviour and state of mind among the French population. The before mentioned state of mind is excellently captured in this extract: 'The cafés were still open too, though the regular clients were ruffled at being unable to obtain their favourite drinks, ...' (ll. 31-32. P. 1).

During the afternoon tea, a group of soldiers, who previously was under the command of the Captain, arrives on the terrace. They neglect to salute our protagonist and to rub salt in the sore, a German officer, who sits elsewhere in the café, rebukes the soldiers, thus making humiliation complete. The German officer's interference marks the tipping point of the Captain's realization of defeat and total lack of desire to keep fighting mentally.

The Captain has been through hell and back and after his homecoming he encounters a society unable to support and grasp the magnitude of his emotional grief over fallen comrades and humiliation over lost territory.

When dealing with our protagonist, the 3rd person narrator is omniscient and, consequently, we have a rather straightforward and uncensored insight to the mind and being of the Captain. As the following quote reveals, the tone of the narrator seems somewhat concerned and empathic with the Captain: 'The face of the Captain, (...), was drawn and exhausted, for he had only stopped fighting three days before, and within him his soul was dead.' (ll. 11-14. P. 3).

On several occasions Osbert Sitwell choses to pause and break the rhythm of the text by inserting three full stops. 'it was like seeing the ghost of someone you had loved. ... 'Defeat.' ...' (ll. 20-21. P. 4). The locations of the full stops are deliberately chosen to force the reader to slow down and ponder upon the concrete piece of text.

Though it is never mentioned, The Captain is obviously suffering from shell shock and battle fatigue. Page 3 and 4 reveal some of the experiences he has been through; namely, among others, overwhelming German striking power, the grim sight of fallen soldiers in ditches, and the sounds of thunder-like machine guns. He cannot let go of the '...sights and sounds ...[they are]... more real to him than the silvery perspective of tall, shivering poplars...' (ll. 10-11. P. 4). The extract reveals,