Heritage and Identity in Pat Barkers Regeneration Essay -- Pat Barker

The presence of Jews in England has been a source of controversy for many reasons. On page 35 of Pat Barker's historical novel Regeneration, Siegfried Sassoon reveals the nature of his relationship with his father, who left home when he was five, and gives an account of his Jewish history. Though he hadn't been raised Jewish and apparently had no association with his Jewish relatives, Sassoon was subjected to the discrimination that was often seen in England before and during WWI. Through Sassoon's Jewish heritage and the other characters relation to the past, Barker exposes the need of mankind to identify with the past in order to come to terms with the present. There is much history concerning the Jewish people and their presence in England as an organized community, beginning in 1066 when Jewish merchants were encouraged to move to England. Professor Daniel J. Elazer, in summarizing an article by Aubrey Newman, states that from 1066 to 1290 the Jews suffered persecution in the form of "blood libels, mass riots, and discriminatory legislation" (4), followed by expulsion from England until 1655 when a Sephardi Rabbi was able to convince Oliver Cromwell to allow the Jews readmission. Most of the Jews coming into England were Sephardi Jews, well educated and successful businessmen from Spain and Amsterdam, until later in the seventeenth century when Jewish immigrants from Northern Europe began to arrive. These Jews were known as Ashkenazi Jews and were of a lower social class than the Sephardi (5). Anti-Jewish sentiment in England can be attributed to more than religious persecution. It includes religious, race, and social issues and is researched in depth in Anti-Semitism in British Society, 1876-1939, by Professor Colin Hol... ...ows both Rivers and Prior to embrace the present. By denying the past, many of the characters in Barker's novel struggle with the present. Many are unable to deal with the horrors of war witnessed and experienced in their recent past. Others, such as Rivers and Prior, struggle with issues from their childhood as well. Regeneration shows that by making a connection with the past and accepting it for what it is, the characters are able to continue their lives with some sense of order and purpose. Works Cited Barker, Pat. Regeneration. New York: Plume, 1993. Elazer, Daniel. "British Jewry." Jerusalem Center For Public Affairs. 14 April 2004. <http://www.jcpa.org/dje/articles3/british.htm> Holmes, Colin. Anti-Semitism in British Society, 1879-1939. London: Edward Arnold Ltd., 1979. Westman, Karin E. Pat Barker's Regeneration. New York: Continuum, 2001.