Chapter 16 Summary and Analysis

A few days later, the units were alerted for another assault. They stood ready for hours but that attack, also, was finally canceled. The men had originally sent their personal equipment, including blankets, clothing, and personal care items to the rear area so that equipment would not clutter the trenches during the offensive; thus, they subsisted in the trenches for days without useful sleep or clean clothing. Graves fell into a black depression and became pessimistic about everything. He learned that he had been gazetted a captain but took little pleasure in the promotion.

He read a newspaper article about a well-known noble's son—in fact, his amorous school chum Dick—who had been convicted of 'sexual delinquency', apparently soliciting homosexual intercourse from Canadian soldiers. Graves was disgusted and disheartened but decided to think of Dick as simply dead...