The White Feather
The white feather is sometimes presented in England as a symbol of cowardice . This English custom probably has its origins in cockfighting . It was believed that a chicken with a white feather on its rump was of little use for the quarrel and was cowardly. In German the vernacular said analogously; "If you are a coward, you have to lose your feathers."
The symbol has been particularly well known in the British Army and throughout the British Empire since the 18th century . During the First World War , the award of the “White Pen” to men who were not capable of war or who were unwilling to go to war, but especially to students, by young women became a public defamation campaign. The Order of the White Feather , initiated by Admiral Charles Cooper Penrose Fitzgerald , chose its victims as cowards and slackers, often invalids . Pacifists like Fenner Brockway boasted that they had enough feathers to make a fan. In some cases, sending a white pen to women on the home front was even used to deal with unwanted and invalid husbands or fiancés.
American Quakers interpret the feather tradition in their peaceful way. Their ancestors had met an Indian tribe somewhere in the country on the warpath in 1775 . Their chief came to their house of worship, and the believers remained in awe, and since the chief found no weapons with them, he declared peace and pinned a white feather made of his hairstyle to the door of the church.
The Four Feathers
The novel The Four Feathers by the British writer AEW Mason was first published in 1902 and has been filmed several times. The story describes the life of a British officer who, for reasons of conscience, refuses to do military service in Sudan and is therefore bid farewell with four white feathers when his ship leaves. Offended by the critical behavior of three officers, including his fiancée, he decides to follow them after they leave. Disguised as an Arab, he seeks to restore his wounded honor in the fight against the Islamists . He saves the lives of two of the officers and proves himself in service for the British Kingdom . After his return home, he returned his pen to each of the combatants.
Mason's book has been filmed several times:
- 1939: Four feathers , directed by Zoltan Korda
- 1955: Storm over the Nile , directed by Zoltan Korda
- 1978: The Four Feathers, directed by Don Sharp
- 2002: The Four Feathers , directed by Shekhar Kapur
The film The White Feather , on the other hand, has a different plot.