Bournemouth

I did a little digging, and found out some very interesting things about the place that Forester chose as the setting that both opens and closes this story. Bournemouth is a large tourist destination on the water in the South (in Dorset sort of). Its exponential growth seemed to take off when a retired army man, "Lewis Tregonwell" moved there with his wife. It became a destination for invalids and wounded army men in the time of our novel. It has a very impressive war memorial with two lions-- one asleep and one awake. The Pier was at first at small rickety affair that was destroyed by the elements. Prior to the war, it was rebuilt at great cost and became a place for military concerts. Three years after the publication of this novel, it was demolished in 1940 by the British Army because they were affraid the Germans would attack it. It was rebuilt six years later. (read a short concise article on Bournemouth here)
(the authour of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, is also burried in the church in Bournemouth)

I think Forester would have been pleased with the symbolic significance of the destruction of the Pier. For me, the Pier represents men like Tregonwell and Curzon who grew up in 'Kipling's Army'-- men who were molded by British Stoicism and saw war as a means of obtaining honour, duty and fame. If WWI was the catylist for the crumbling of these ideals, WWII has to be seen as their official burrial. By destroying the Pier in 1940, the army was making a statement: not only does this symbol of past military glory and attitudes have no place in this war, but it is a danger to the countries very survival. This is how I think Forester feels about Curzon. While he admires and respects Curzon for being so completely loyal to his ideals, ("He was the soul of hnour, he could be guilty of no meanness"(26)), men like him have no place in the modern style of warfare :
"It might have been- though it would be a bold man to say so- more advantageous for England if the British Army had not been quite so full of men of high rank who were so ready for responsibility, so unflinchingly devoted to their duty, so unmoved in the face of difficulties, of such unfaltering courage."(27)
Curzon is like the lions at the memorial (seen above): one side of him is awake while the other is asleep. While his stoic commitment to his duty has made him excellent at details and mechanics of war, it has also made him asleep to compassion and the value of human life. When this side is finally awakened, "when a sudden flash of colour penetrated into his consciousness", he realizes that his perception of the world was false. He realizes that that world no longer existed, and "it was a long time before he was sure enough of this this solid world again"(262-263).
Anyone care to comment?