19 Feb 2019
We Are The Mighty | By Eric Milzarski
There is nothing more heart-wrenching to
veterans with families than having to explain why daddy hasn't been the same
ever since he returned from the war. A reasonable adult can grasp the idea that
war is hell and that it can change a person forever, but an innocent kid — one
who was sheltered from such grim concepts by that very veteran — cannot.
A. A. Milne, an English author and veteran of
both World Wars, was struggling to explain this harsh reality to his own child
when he penned the 1926 children's classic, "Winnie-the-Pooh."
As a young man, Alan Alexander Milne stood up for King and Country when it was
announced that the United Kingdom had entered World War I. He was commissioned
as an officer into the 4th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, as a member
of the Royal Corps of Signals on February 1, 1915. Soon after, he was sent to
France to fight in the Battle of the Somme.
The description, "Hell on Earth" is
apt, but doesn't come close to fully describing the carnage of what became the
bloodiest battle in human history. More than three million men fought and one
million men were wounded or killed — many of Milne's closest friends were among
the numerous casualties. Bodies were stacked in the flooded-out trenches where
other men lived, fought, and died.
On August 10,
1915, Milne and his men were sent to enable communications by laying telephone
line dangerously close to an enemy position. He tried warning his command of
the foolishness of the action to no avail. Two days later, he and his battalion
were attacked, just as he had foreseen. Sixty British men perished in an
instant. Milne was one of the hundred or so badly wounded in the ambush. He was
sent home for his wounds suffered that day.
Milne returned to his wife, Daphne de
Selincourt, and spent many years recovering physically. His light finally came
to him on August 21, 1920, when his son, Christopher Robin Milne, was born. He
put his writings on hold — it was his therapeutic outlet for handling his shell
shock (now known as post-traumatic stress) — so he could be the best possible
father to his baby boy.
One fateful day, he took his son to the London
Zoo where they bonded over enjoying a new visitor to the park, a little Canadian Black Bear named Winnipeg (or Winnie for short). Alan was drawn to the
bear because it had been a mascot used by the Canadian Expeditionary Force in
WWI. Despite being one of the most terrifying creatures in the zoo, Winnie was
reclusive, often shying away from people.
Alan saw himself in that bear. At the same
time, Christopher loved the bear for being cuddly and cute. Understandably,
Alan bought his son a teddy — the real-life Winnie the Pooh bear.
The demons of war followed Milne throughout
his life. It was noted that when Christopher was little, Alan terrified him when he
confused a swarm of buzzing bees with whizzing bullets. The popping of balloons
sent him ducking for cover. Milne knew of only one way to explain to his son
what was happening — through his writing. A.A. Milne started writing a
collection of short stories entitled "Winnie-the-Pooh."
It's been theorized by Dr. Sarah Shea that Milne wrote into each character of
"Winnie-the-Pooh" a different psychological disorder. While only A.
A. Milne could tell us for certain, Dr. Shea's theory seems pointed in the
right direction, but may be a little too impersonal. After all, the book was
written specifically for one child, by name, and features the stuffed animals
that the boy loved.
It's more likely, in my opinion, that the
stories were a way for Milne to explain his own post-traumatic stress to his
six-year-old son. Every stuffed friend in the Hundred Acre Woods is a
child-friendly representation of a characteristic of post-traumatic stress.
Piglet is paranoia, Eeyore is depression,
Tigger is impulsive behaviors, Rabbit is perfectionism-caused aggression, Owl
is memory loss, and Kanga & Roo represent over-protection. This leaves
Winnie, who Alan wrote in for himself as Christopher Robin's guide through the
Hundred Acre Woods — his father's mind.
It all kind of makes
you think about that line Winnie's says to Christopher, "If you live to be
a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live
without you." (New York Public Library)
The books were published on October 14, 1926.
As a child, Christopher Robin embraced the connection to his father, but as
the books grew in popularity, he would resent being mocked for his namesake
character.
Christopher Robin Milne eventually followed in
his father's footsteps and they both served in the Second World War. His father
was a Captain in the British Home Guard and he served as a sapper in the Royal
Engineers.
It was only after his service that he grew to
accept his father's stories and embraced his legacy, which endures to this day.
In fact, "Christopher Robin," a 2018
film starring Ewan McGregor and directed by Marc Forster (known for
"Finding Neverland"), is out now on home video. Be sure to
check it out.
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