Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews June 14, 2023 June 7, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
Burns is brought before the medical board, and although Rivers has assured Burns that he has recommended an unconditional discharge, Burns is extremely anxious. During the interview, Rivers helps a trapped insect find its way to the window.
Prior is in the sick bay again, after passing out on the train ride home with Sarah. He talks to Rivers, who tells him that his asthmatic condition will have to be reported to the Board. Prior is frustrated; he wants to return to France because he feels like he does not fit in anywhere but there. He needs people to talk with and he feels that the soldiers on the front are the only men who can relate to him. Prior feels he has failed because he broke down, and he wants to return to the front to prove himself.
Rivers gets a call that there is something wrong with Anderson. Rivers rushes to Anderson's room to find him on the floor in a fetal position, afraid of the blood from his roommate's shaving wound. Rivers cleans Anderson up, calms him down, and asks him to think seriously about a profession other than medicine to practice when he leaves the hospital.
Rivers then begins his daily appointments. The first patient is Willard, who requests to be separated from Prior in the sick bay; he cannot stand Prior's nightmares and screaming, and furthermore, he thinks Prior is gay. The next patient is Featherstone, who requests another room; he cannot stand Anderson as a roommate any longer. Rivers is kept busy by a string of patients and appointments. It turns out that Broadbent, who swore that his mother had passed away and who had taken leave for the funeral, was mortified when his mother showed up to question why she had never heard from her son. At the end of the day, Rivers is exhausted. He goes to bed early, but wakes up in the middle of the night with terrible chest pain. When Dr. Bryce comes in the next morning, he examines Rivers, finds an irregular heartbeat, and orders him to take three weeks vacation.
That night it storms heavily. Sassoon goes to Owen's room, and together they work on poetry for a few hours. When Sassoon returns to his own room, he thinks about all the men under his command: how they were in poor physical condition, many just five feet tall, "almost a different order of being." Sassoon falls into a troubled sleep and dreams that his friend Orme is at the door, but then he realizes that Orme is dead. Sassoon wakes up and waits for the morning so that he can talk to Rivers before he goes on leave. He rushes down to Rivers's office, only to find that the doctor has already left on the early train. Sassoon is dejected. He returns to his room and thinks of his father who has abandoned him. He realizes how completely Rivers has taken his father's place, and how much this feels like a second abandonment.
Rivers is at home, and he makes a trip with his family to church. He stares at the windows, which depict Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac and Jesus dying on the cross. The contract, Rivers reasons, is that if a man obeys his elders, even to the point of sacrificing his life, he will someday receive the same obedience from his sons. He reflects that today, in France, they are voiding the contract by killing their sons; there will be no one to inherit from the fathers.
Please wait while we process your payment