St. Christopher Returns from the Trenches: Imitating Christ in Ford Madox Ford’s Parade’s End

Abstract: Critical work on Ford Madox Ford’s Parade’s End has paid little attention to the protagonist’s depiction as a Christ figure; generally, the Christ allusions are read ironically. By contrast, this article contends that Christopher Tietjens’ association with saints and Christ is central to Ford’s experimental Great War tetralogy. To counter discourses that portrayed soldiers as comforting Christian martyrs, Ford constructs a living, disquieting Christ figure. Both Tietjens’ trauma and his desire for suffering undermine efforts to explain war experience and forget. Ultimately, Ford’s subversive use of Christ allusions transforms a conservative motif into a radical one to challenge postwar commemoration.