The Warm Hands of Ghosts

The theme of grief and trauma is particularly pointed in the context of the novel’s World War I setting. While the physical effects of war are obvious, such as Laura’s leg wound and the scars on her hands, the novel is principally concerned with war’s mental and emotional impact, which it suggests via both literal and symbolic means (the latter including, for example, the ghosts who populate the narrative). Through contrasting character arcs, the novel demonstrates how loss can damage, change, or incapacitate a person, but it also makes the case that efforts to suppress or erase one’s trauma are futile. The only path forward, the novel concludes, is to face one’s trauma head-on.

Laura is the first character the novel introduces, and her arc sets the tone for its broader consideration of trauma. Laura’s grief and loss lead to guilt and the belief that she could and should have done more to save everyone, from soldiers she cared for at Brandhoek to her mother. According to the Parkey sisters, she collects ghosts in her wake like “penitent-beads,” implying that grief has led Laura to punish herself with constant reminders of her loss and failures. However, the secondary impact of Laura’s grief is her renewed determination to save her brother. Rather than become paralyzed by her grief, Laura uses it to fuel her motivation and resilience.

On the other hand, Freddie is so traumatized by war that he becomes frozen. The narrative depicts this both literally and figuratively. For instance, Freddie wakes from a nightmare in Faland’s hotel in Chapter 25, momentarily paralyzed—a common symptom of PTSD. Furthermore, his entire time with Faland is characterized by a kind of mental and emotional immobility. Unable to face his grief and guilt, horrified by the trauma of war and his own actions, Freddie elects to stay in the nowhere space of Faland’s hotel, which exists outside the time and geography of the war. He is even willing to relinquish his own memories and identity in an effort to escape his own grief and trauma—a symbolic evocation of how trauma shapes identity, rendering any attempt to ignore it tantamount to self-destruction.

The third character deeply impacted by grief and trauma is Pim, whose story mirrors and contrasts with Freddie’s. Pim demonstrates that even families far removed from the battlefield can be grievously wounded by the war. Though she hides it well throughout much of the novel, Pim’s loss of her husband and son proves too ruinous to survive. Freddie slowly relinquishes his identity but then just as slowly rebuilds, recognizing how his experiences have changed him but also refusing to define himself by suffering alone. By contrast, Pim’s sense of self is subsumed by her grief, leading to hatred and an all-consuming need for revenge. Freddie thus demonstrates that one can survive grief and trauma with love and resilience, while Pim depicts the consequences of grief that completely consumes one’s identity.