Captain Graves
A lieutenant when first introduced, Graves is a promising narrator and protagonist. He's an author, so his time spent in the war is defined largely by the stories he gathered. In this autobiographical narrative, he recounts his personal opinions about how WWI was conducted. During the Somme Offensive he is wounded. The people around him are so disturbed by Grave's injuries that they assume he has died and inform his parents. Graves experiences a sort of rebirth and writes to his parents that the rumors were hasty, even publishing a newspaper announcement as to the fallacy of the previous obituary. Throughout the war, Graves is bothered not just by the violence but by what he considers the brutal mistreatment of enemy prisoners. After the war, Graves spends years recovering physically and mentally from the injury to his lung. Although his body heals, he struggles to move past the trauma which he's experienced. When he eventually does reenter the social world, he's a broken man, seriously damaged and unable to connect emotionally.
Siegfried Sassoon
Siegfried is also a writer turned soldier. He believes in the necessity of the war, going so far as to volunteer to return to whichever front he's left because of injury. Although he fears the conflict, he believes in the cause, making him a model soldier. Siegfried carries his narrative capacity with him everywhere, helping his fellow soldiers to find meaning in their perilous work.
General Kitchener
The general earned the reputation "Kitchener's Mob" for his troops. He conscripted hundreds of men into a so-called volunteer army, even inviting recent college grads to join in exchange for favorable temporary officer positions. Without informing these men, Kitchener intended to send them en mass into the Battle of Loos. They receive little training, but some show real promise. The nature of these "temporary" positions becomes clear when most are slaughtered by the German army.
Dr. William Rivers
After the war, Dr. Rivers is the most important psychiatrist available. He consults with Graves, but his treatments prove mostly ineffective. Unable to change a man unwilling to be changed, Dr. Rivers eventually abandons the case.
