Throughout Birdsong, Destruction of man is a constant theme conveyed by Faulks.
In part two, Stephen is showed as distant to his to his men, lacking the ability to comfort his men, specifically when Weir refers to Stephen as a cold bastard as Stephen is not capable of comforting him. This is completely contradicted in part four, as Stephen expresses that the grimmer, harder, more sardonic they became, the more he cared for them. As they have fought together and killed together, the bond between the soldiers is forever growing. Negative diction is used to enforce the terrors of the war and enforced with the rule of three showing the forever degrading effects to the soldiers on the front line.
The destruction of man is also shown in a more psychological way. Whilst finding their way back to the front line the men found that there was something automatic now in the way they could find their way in the darkness. The word automatic advocates they are like machine and they are programmed to recognise it. As they are like machines, it almost makes them sound dispensable or governed by a higher being; they have no feelings or remorse.
This psychological, mechanical element is also present again as they were built to endure and resist. This quotation is showing the soldiers being built in a way that is not humanly necessary; that they have been forced into a psychological frame of mind that is not naturally encountered in human nature. The word endure shows the forever, on-going struggle and tiring life of the typical soldier. The word resist also has a deeper, more in depth meaning showing both physical and mental connotations. Its physical insinuation is the forever merciless weather in France being the cold harsh winters, and blisteringly hot summers; the mental indicating the mental strength of seeing and coping with the unseen and untold horrors.
The psychological effects on the men were great and many men had to turn to either smoking on alcohol. For Weir, nit was alcohol. His lust and need for drinking is show throughout the several chapters up to and before his death. Part two, shows the decrease of seven bottles of whiskey decline to one in only a few days, Part four, shows his alcoholic obsession as he asks his parents where the alcohol cupboard is, and finally when Weir is shaking as his pocket flask does not contain enough liquid courage. This was the case to many survivors of world war one, many came back alcoholics, addicted to cigarettes or more severely when and if they could not cope with the horrors of the war, they would result in a mental break down or shell shock.
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