Short Story Review D H Lawrence THE Thorn in THE Side

SHORT STORY REVIEW – D. H. LAWRENCE – THE THORN IN THE SIDE. 1914 In The Prussian Officer & Other Stories. Various editions.

On manoeuvres in Germany, Bachmann struggles to compose a postcard to his Mother back at home. His efforts are interrupted by a training exercise involving getting the men to practice climbing steep castle battlements on a scaling ladder.

Unable to bring him to admit to his phobia, Bachmann watches the soldiers go through the exercise in dread, fearing his turn. When it comes, he is so terrified he loses bladder control and wets himself in front of everyone. 

While the soldiers are sympathetic to him, the officer gets angry and in a state of panic, Bachmann pushes the man into the castle moat, injuring him, but not killing him.  On advice from the me, Bachmann runs away.

The story could easily have been a comical farce, but Lawrence captures the tragedy with perfect pitch. He is now a deserter, and he goes to his girlfriend, Emille, a young naïve virginal gypsy girl, who agrees to hide him until he can get hold of a bicycle and flee to France.

Though repulsed by the majority of soldiers who just make love to girls brutally, Bachmann’s girl loves his gentle effeminacy and mild side.  Both she and he compare his fear to the suffering of Christ, a clue to the story title. He stays with her too long and it is her efforts to post Bachmann’s card to his mother that gets him caught, and the story ends abruptly as the army come to separate the lovers forever.

A sad tale, with the beautiful descriptions of the nature juxtaposed against the ugliness of buildings and human behaviour, other than in the short lived relationship between Bachmann and Emille

The full text of The Thorn In The Flesh http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301501h.html#C02

Arthur Chappell