What if I told you insane was working 50 hours a week in some office for 50 years, at the end of which, they tell you to piss off...ending up at some retirement village hoping to die before suffering the indignity of trying to make it to the toilet on time. Wouldn't you consider that to be insane?

That quote stands out in my mind because it is somewhat true. Whoever said the original idea of insanity was correct. What if that statement is true? Nobody is really correct on one's prediction of insanity and madness. That is why when Pat Barker wrote the novel, Regeneration, it was such a great breakthrough. She leaves the decision up to the reader to decide what and who is mad in the novel. In the novel, Regeneration, Pat Barker leaves the lingering decision of who is really mad in society up to the reader because bias views have long been inflicted into people's heads by society's morals.

War and madness seem to go hand in hand in some instances. In this instance it is abundantly clear that society has afflicted their views into this world in a bad way. Sure, society teaches us good things, but as one can clearly see that they also don't always seem to be looking out for others. I hope this essay has made you look at madness in a different light. If there is just one thing that I would like you to remember from this essay, that is, "It's not about who is insane, but about what is insane."

In the novel the so-called "insane" patients are sent to an institute called Craiglockhart. It is one of the top schools in the country, at that time, for curing insanity.

Sigfried Sassoon is sent to the institute because he was named insane by the bias medical board of the war. Sassoon wrote a declaration that plainly stated that the war was going on for unjust reasons. Rivers, Sassoon's psychologist, says this next statement to Sassoon when he first arrives at the institute. "Taking unnecessary risks is the first sign of a war neurosis."(Pg. 11) Right off the bat even his psychologist is prejudging him and giving him the title of "mad". Sassoon's friend, Graves, said this next statement. He is talking about what the board would do to him if he submitted his declaration. "They'll shut you up in a lunatic asylum for the rest of the war."(Pg. 7) The idea of being in an in

Some common words found in the essay are:
Private Burns, Officer Prior, Rivers Sassoon's, Pat Barker, Con Air, Medical Board, Madness Madness, Sigfried Sassoon, medical board, novel regeneration, quote stands, stands mind, sent institute, insane prior, quote stands mind, pat barker,
Approximate Word count = 942
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)