ATTITUDES TO WAR IN JOURNEYS END By Callum

ATTITUDES TO WAR IN JOURNEY’S END By Callum Ward and Josh Turner.

Introduction R. C Sheriff uses various characters to represent contrasting attitudes towards war. � For example, Mason- Becomes the cook to avoid going back out there. Hibbert- Will do anything to escape as he is now broken beneath the horror that is war. Trotter- Eats to escape his troubles. Raleigh- Eager, naive and innocent until the crisis. Stanhope- Stoic, perseveres and supresses his emotions. Osborne- knowledgeable about what will happen to him and accepts it. �

Mason (cook) � � � Mason has become the cook to avoid the front line of trench warfare, demonstrating masons fearful attitude towards front line combat. He speaks with a working-class accent, "’ot tea… sambridges"; someone the audience can laugh with and at. However he is hard working and keen to serve his officers as well as brave. He is put in his place by Stanhope but is resilient and humorous, offering light relief and a sense of normality against which the craziness of the war seems even more apparent and sad.

Hibbert � � � Hibbert He is rather stereotypically described as a "small, slightly built man". He doesn’t easily fit in with the men. He tries to be sociable by joking. But because of his attitude towards women, calling them "tarts", it doesn’t really work. Stanhope describes his as "little worm… Repulsive little mind". He breaks down in "hysterics" in front of Stanhope, desperate to escape from the war, hoping for a medical reprieve because of his "neuralgia". Stanhope sees him as a coward and threatens to shoot him. Hibbert responds by allowing Stanhope to shoot him to escape the horror known as war.

Trotter � � He draws "one hundred and forty-four little circles" to mark off the hours until the battle highlighting the tenseness of the long wait. The circles indicate way in which most soldiers in tried to distract themselves through miscellaneous tasks. Food, chatter and jokes help to keep totters nerves intact and the horror at bay. The original audience would have laughed at him, but would also have directly related to him.

Raleigh � � � Its not exactly what I thought” - This demonstrates Raleigh's innocence and naivety towards the war. Raleigh and Hibberts attitudes towards the war introduce binary opposition through their contrasting attitudes: Raleigh has yet to understand the reality of war so therefore he still expresses the innocence of youth. Hibbert represents someone destroyed by war

Stanhope � � � In three years, he has never gone home on leave fearful that his inability to cope without whisky will become apparent and shock his parents and girlfriend. Stanhope is furious that Lt Raleigh has found a way to join his unit. Mostly because he is worried that Raleigh will tell his sister about his (Stanhope’s) drinking. He tries to confiscate a letter Raleigh has written only to discover that Raleigh described him as a hero. He threatens to shoot Lt Hibbert, who he sees as a "coward", trying to avoid the battle by pretending to be ill. This scene allows Sheriff an opportunity to see a darker side of Stanhope but also to develop useful insights into the effects of war on men. Towards the end, Stanhope makes it clear how he disagrees with the command of the war by the generals, separated as they are from the reality the men are facing. In the closing scenes of the play, we see the Stanhope’s intense humanity as he comforts the dying Raleigh.

Osborne � � � He acts as a mentor to Stanhope, helping him to cope. He also mentors Raleigh, trying to bring reality to his boyish idea of the "hero" concerning Stanhope. Reading from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is his way of distracting himself from the horrors of the war and comforting himself with a childhood book. Describes the war as, "silly" – and as childish as this comment is, the audience begin to agree with him and see the terrifying "silliness" of the war.

The colonel � � He speaks as if he views war more as a game, "It’s all a damn nuisance; but, after all – it’s necessary. “ This portrays his attitude of making the war winnable by under complicating, therefore all he has to think about is what move to make in his game called ‘war’. We feel that he is relatively safe and removed from the horror but that, he, too, is having to follow orders from above and feels that he has to keep a stiff upper lip and act coolly.

R. C Sherriff’s attitude. � � � Through Journey’s End R. C Sherriff portrays a lot of contrasting attitudes to war through different characters. The main attitude that R. C Sherriff conveys is a fearful attitude as demonstrated by the protagonist Stanhope. However he also portrays a couple of side attitudes of determination mixed with a side order of courage.

“It a ll se ems rath er s illy, -Ra lieg doe h sn’t it? ”