William Tully

Griselda Tully

Griselda is William's wife, and their relationship is central to the story, marked by deep affection and shared political awakening.

Faraday

Faraday is a close friend and fellow conscientious objector who supports William through his wartime struggles.

Edith Haynes

Edith is William's former lover, and their relationship is fraught with unresolved tension and lingering feelings.

Heinz

Heinz is a German officer who interrogates and torments William, embodying the brutal enemy during the war.

The German

The German is a fellow prisoner and antagonist who clashes with William over ideology and survival.

Mrs. Jay-Blenkinsop

Mrs. Jay-Blenkinsop is William's employer at the law firm, treating him with condescension and bureaucratic indifference.

The Priest

The priest attempts to manipulate William's conscience and guilt, representing religious authority and moral pressure.

Madame Peys

Madame Peys shows William kindness and hospitality, becoming a rare source of warmth in his captivity.

Wright

Wright is a fellow prisoner and comrade who shares William's pacifist beliefs and offers solidarity.

Edwardes

Edwardes is a colleague at the law firm, maintaining a distant and formal working relationship with William.

Faraday

Faraday is a close friend and fellow conscientious objector who supports William through his wartime struggles.

Griselda Tully

Griselda is William's wife, and their relationship is central to the story, marked by deep affection and shared political awakening.

I

Introduced as a pale-faced, diffident clerk who transforms after his mother's death, inherits wealth, becomes a Social Reformer, and proposes to Griselda.

II

Described as sharing Griselda's rigid views, a pacifist who supports strikes, and attends the meeting to support Griselda's protest.

III

Newly married to Griselda, he experiences awe and unease in the tranquil Ardennes valley, sensing a challenge to his urban, activist worldview.

IV

William dismisses the soldiers and gunfire as maneuvers, lectures on international working-class solidarity, and plans a hike with Griselda.

V

William and Griselda discover the grave and deserted farm; he later theorizes a wounded Belgian soldier died there.

VI

Struck down by a German soldier after attempting to ignore him and continue to the station.

VII

Experiences the onset of real fear for the first time as he witnesses the execution of hostages, realizing the fragility of law and safety.

VIII

Undergoes a profound psychological crisis after witnessing the execution, leading to the uprooting of his faith in the People and Public Opinion; experiences a first faint sense of nationality and longing for England.

IX

William is captured, separated from Griselda, forced to work, and later searches frantically for her amid the chaos of war.

X

Flees with Griselda, searches for her after separation, finds her assaulted, and leads their escape.

XI

Exhausted and starving, William carries Griselda through the woods, experiencing hallucinations and dark humor about the suffrage movement.

XII

Grieves over Griselda's body, spends a sleepless night, and is comforted by an Englishwoman.

XIII

Traumatized and silent, William struggles to process the horrors he has witnessed, relying on Edith Haynes for survival during the journey to Paris.

XIV

Grieving Griselda, he undergoes a conversion from pacifism to a desire for vengeance and enlistment; buys mourning clothes and shares his plan with Edith.

XV

Returns to the empty flat, grieves over Griselda's photograph, and attends Faraday's meeting feeling detached and unreal.

XVI

Grieves for Griselda, moves to Camden Town, studies war history, and finally enlists after multiple rejections.

XVII

Serves as a clerk in France, feeling trapped and disillusioned with the war's monotony and his own powerlessness.

XVIII

Endures air raid, reunites with Edith Haynes, critically wounded and dies in hospital.