'Yesterday, I felt like I was from a different Planet'
'You can talk to people here.'
'It's the last thing that this lot want to talk about.'
In this extract Prior highlights an emotion common among those who returned from war. The war, as it was for many, a 'different Planet' due to it's alien nature and completely different experience. Many involved tried to keep them separate from each other so that when they returned it would be like starting from where they left off. Jack Firebrace in Birdsong is a good example of this. His immediate responses from the letters from his wife are very limited. Despite news that his son is unwell he moves to eat 'quickly' before any emotion can be registered.
The extract also reveals an inability to associate with those who did not fight in WW1. Prior goes on to describe it as 'the club to end all clubs'. This is a sarcastic view of the war and also the term 'the war to end all wars' which became associated with WW1. Prior has a very hostile view towards the 'lot' that don't want to talk about the view. Prior becomes very hostile towards civilians that can be echoed in some of Sassoon's poetry where he describes them as 'smug-faced crowds' in his poem 'They' and in 'Glory of Women' he complains of how they 'worship decorations' or 'wounded in a mentionable place'.
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