Tone in Good-bye To All That

I found the tone very interesting throughout the book.  In the opening section of the book I was completely drawn to this compelling, witty, and almost self-aware-humor that drove the retelling of Graves formative years.  It is a pleasurable pace and recounts quips and idiosyncracies of his family through brief narrative passages.  For instance, the passage that details his mothers top four favorite sayings is fantastic. 

The tone and pace gave the feel of timelessness.  While, obviously, it took place in the years leading up to The Great War, the language did not date the piece.  I really felt like this could have been written in a very modern time.  While I kept reading through the war sections, I found that while the tone shifted, as did the pace, the overall timelessness of the narration held true. 

Two passages from the war section that stood out in particular to me were:
These Welshmen are peculiar.  They won't stand being shouted at.  They'll do anything if you explain the reason for it--do and die, but they have to know their reason why.  The best way to make them behave is not to give them too much time to think. pg 100

In case I ever doubted for a second before whether or not I could ever do well as a soldier...this confirmed that I would actually be the worst.  How dare I have to justify the actions that might get me killed...

The other part that stood out to me was when Graves was in a cafe and helped a girl with her homework.  When he saw that everything was abbreviated, he asked her why.
"The lady professor talked very fast because we were hurried...oh, because part of the school is used as a billet for your troops, and the Germans were shelling it, and we were always having to take shelter in the cellar, and when we came back each time there was less and less time left." 114

Graves does a notable job detailing the effects of war through anecdotes.  Kayleigh mentioned the part where he ran into the guy with his brains blown out whom it would take 3 hours to die.  The part that really illustrated to me the dire situations and the necessary almost lightness of this horror that needed to be taken in order to survive was the piling of all the money into a pot and survivors divvy it up.