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How Does Journey's End React To War

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How does Journey’s End end explore the ways in which the men in the play react to war?

“Good God! Don’t you understand? How can I sit down and eat that — when — when Osborne’s — lying — out there —”
“My God! You bloody little swine! You think that I don’t care — you think you’re the only soul that cares!”
“And yet you can sit there and drink champagne — and smoke cigars —”
“The one man I could trust — my best friend — the one man I could talk to man to man — who understood everything — and you think I don’t care —”
“But how can you when —?”
“To forget, you little fool — to forget! D’you understand? To forget! You think there’s no limit to what a man can bear?”

Journey’s End- the seventh play written by English playwright and soldier …show more content…

That’s just the point.”

Raleigh is portrayed as a young, keen newcomer who wants to fight for his country and do everything he can to help the company and prove himself. This enthusiasm, whilst good in some cases, provides him with an exceptionally distorted perception of what the war was like. Once he has been out on the front line for the raid, and has seen the reality of it all, he is completely shellshocked and doesn’t know how to feel or how to react, deciding to seclude himself from the other officers and to not eat dinner (page 90).

Stanhope- “Why didn’t you come down to supper when I told you to?”
Raleigh- “I — I wasn’t hungry. I had rather a headache. It’s cooler up there.”

As he is so young and naive, he doesn’t understand how everybody else can just carry on as normal, forgetting about what just took place or the friends that they just lost, and how they can suddenly go back to their games or drinks as if nothing ever happened, not realising that the games and drinks are their distractions and ways of handing it …show more content…

However, his humour is not light- hearted and fun like theirs; he has a more rude, ill- mannered style, similar to Captain Hardy’s. He tells many stories about his past relationships, talks about women in a disrespectful manner, and treats them as if they are objects. Although it is meant to reduce the tension, it actually increases it as they do not all have the same sense of humour and these stories and jokes do not get on well with Stanhope, who angrily says to Trotter after Hibbert has left the room, “Doesn’t he nearly drive you mad?” and “Doesn’t his repulsive little mind make you

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