William "Billy" Prior

Billy is the first character readers meet. He is a man who has already experienced three tours of duty on the French Front in World War I and is awaiting his physical exam and clearance to return for a fourth time. Although he's engaged to be married, his infidelity is one of the first things readers experience, which sets the tone and tenor of his character.

The only thing that Billy knows how to do well is fight in war. It's this transient ability that has him reaching for the meaning of his existence through Dr. Charles Rivers, a psychiatrist who befriends him in Craiglockhart War Hospital.

Billy's unfaithfulness to his fiancée is merely the tip of the iceberg. Billy's unfaithfulness to himself eventually gets him killed. He doesn't have to return to France to fight; he pushes for the assignment because he doesn't...