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Nakedness
The horse’s bit is a minor symbol of control, arising briefly at the end of the story. Rivers dreams he that he is trying to force a horse’s bit into a patient’s mouth, just as Yealland forced the electrode into Callan’s mouth. For Rivers, his wielding of the bit as a means of control over a patient reflects his own lurking guilt and fear that through his psychiatry, he exerts undue control over his own patients, repairing their minds and sending them back to combat when their minds had triggered their mental breakdowns precisely to remove themselves from combat.
The Horse’s Bit Quotes in Regeneration
The Regeneration quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Horse’s Bit. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 22
Quotes
Just as Yealland silenced the unconscious protest of his patients by removing the paralysis, the deafness, the blindness, the muteness that stood between them and the war, so, in an infinitely more gentle way, [Rivers] silenced his patients, for the stammerings, the nightmares, the tremors, the memory lapses of officers were just as much unwitting protests as the grosser maladies of men.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Regeneration LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Horse’s Bit Symbol Timeline in Regeneration
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Horse’s Bit appears in Regeneration. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 22
...patient’s mouth. When it won’t fit, he realizes that the electrode is actually a horse’s bit. Rivers wakes, but the images remain in his vision for a long time before he...
(full context)
...he wonders about the patient in the chair. When he realizes that a bridle and bit are instruments of control, however, it begins to come together. In his treatment, Rivers is...
(full context)
Chapter 23
...Rivers a satirical salute, Rivers has a flash of Callan, the electrode, and the horse’s bit. Sassoon leaves.
(full context)
