Script Notes: Impact of the outside world

Sunset Song depicts the steady economic decline of the small farm. Huge forces are at work, beyond the control or understanding of the individual peasant farmers struggling to make a living for themselves and their families. One reflection of this is that Will is not only denied an education, he has to work at Blawearie more or less for nothing. Politicians appear once: their treatment says that they are utterly remote from the people they represent and rule. The First World War, which in a few short years destroys the land and ends the community, is a distant event. The reality of its suffering is barely grasped in Kinraddie, news of it relayed through blatant propaganda and a jingoistic press, its short-term economic benefits unquestioned. Chae and Rob are virtually alone in recognizing the ruin being worked - and Chae was himself misled by the newspapers to volunteer for the army in 1914. Grassic Gibbon presents a chillingly realistic portrayal of the meaninglessness of the tragedy for those left behind to grieve and cope with the consequences of war.