In this passage of Birdsong, society could be seen as having limited patience and callous in dealing with the war by this point. This is shown in several parts of the passage. The quote “the doctor lost patience, and forced him down with hands on his chest” shows that the MO in charge of the hospital was less caring than a modern doctor, causing the injured man excruciating pain, seemingly without caring, because he has “lost patience” with the injured soldier. Faulks uses “forced” as a brutal, harsh adjective which carries the notion of mistreatment. The “boy” in this passage is also treated as being completely anonymous throughout, only ever referred to as “boy” or “he”. Even when he tries to speak, his injuries cause him to lack even a voice, shown in the descriptive sentence “he opened his mouth in silent protest”. This anonymity is used by Faulks to make the rest of society seem uncaring and unsympathetic towards the war. As the war has been underway two years, Faulkes uses this to show the major impact war has on society as a whole -and the individuals involved in it, who seem to have become faceless and distant to the rest of society.
However, Faulkes also represents the empathy and horror that some members of society felt by using the Nurse in contrast with the MO. The nurse is shown to have more of a reaction to the horrors she sees in the hospital, while still dutifully doing her job, when compared with the MO, who shows little reaction to even “the boy’s” grievous injuries. The Nurse is shown to be hard-working, but with a sense of fretfulness, as the realities of war take more of a toll upon her than they do on the MO, proven in the way she would “wring her small hands in a gesture of anguish” after tending a patient. She also appears to feel some empathy towards “the boy” as she “held her arms out in a motherly gesture” in an attempt to “comfort him”. This shows she cares more than the MO, who was harsh and described the boy as “stupid”. The...