Characters of Journeys End by R.C. Sherriff and Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks Essay

The First World War is cognize to be angiotensin converting enzyme of the worst, if non the worst war in military history. The strategies enforced were often ineffective and repetitive, meaning a pretermit of move manpowert and years of stalemate on the western front. Soldiers had to live in conditions which were squalid and foul, they had to deal with diseases such as encroach foot and millions of rats and lice infestations. These usual images of soldiers living in these fetid conditions has become widely cognize and linked with the huge suffering ca expendd by the First World War. The use of literature backside modify us to lucre a picture of what trench warf be was real same(p). Journeys abolish a picnic written by R.C. Sherriff in 1928 based on his own life experiences gives a realistic image of life as a soldier in the trenches.However, the novel margin call by Sebastian Faulks which was non written till 2005 gives a version of what Faulks believed trench warf atomic number 18 to be give care it is a fictional creative thinker based on k flatledge and run acrossing of World War One. Also the authors chose distinguishable formats with unity being a novel the other a play, thus giving them contrasting elans of conveying soldiers experiences of war. A play deals with the actions and reactions of characters using dialogue and yet a novel potentiometer go into the heads of characters, giving the reader an understanding of a soulfulnesss emotions and feelings through description and narrative.The characters presented in both(prenominal) Journeys shutdown and Birdsong are attempting to avoid and deal with the horrors of trench warfare in umteen different ways including drinking, violence, and memories of loved ones and trying to use humour as a way of distancing themselves from the horrors facing them. Each character has to find there own way of dealing with the slur, as anyone would when approach with the constant business organ isation of close.In both Journeys fire and Birdsong we get a glimpse of what the characters Stanhope and Wraysford were like before the terror of war affected them. In Journeys End although we dont see Stanhope before the war Sherriff cleverly uses capital of North Carolina to give us an idea of what he was like when he was younger. We see Raleigh as this optimistic, patriotic man excited at the prospect of going into war alongside his childhood wedge shape. His confession to Osborne that he was Keen to get protrude here is a representation of many patriotic soldiers at the break out of the first world war and could show us how Stanhope may have felt before the realisation of what warfare was really like.The growing sense of conflict surrounded by Stanhope and Raleigh still shows how much the war has changed Stanhope, and affected him. non only do we see Raleigh as a young version of Stanhope but excessively we elate from him background information on Stanhopes life, he w as skipper of Rugger at Barford, and unbroken wicket for the eleven. A jolly good bat, too. This is not needed in Birdsong as we master a background on what Wraysford was like before the war in part one of the novel.Novels consent to writers to add descriptive back stories through narrative rather than dialogue, we quarter learn about one persons perspective unlike in a play when we are unable to hear thoughts and feelings these can only be expressed through actors portraying the role. Birdsong can go into profoundness about the emotional effects war can have on a person, which is a crafty detail to encapsulate in a play and yet I believe R.C. Sherriff uses dialogue and the actions of each(prenominal) individual to show their emotional state. We can see strongly in both, average what the war can do, seeing and living in those conditions certainly would bring about change in a person however it is the way they deal with it that helps them continue on through.An easy escape for many soldiers during the war was drink. For an unremarkable private on the front disembowel getting alcoholic drink was punishing and they were only allowed a low-spirited drop before going oer the top, however officers were allowed to drink (as believed responsible enough for it) and alcoholism among officers was common. twain Stanhope in Journeys End and Wraysford and Weir in Birdsong use drink as a method of getting through the horrors in front of them, She doesnt know that if I went up those steps into the front force without being doped with whisky Id go mad with excite.Drink was a way to forget, and peradventure for a mo custodyt be away from the front line in their heads, although eventually become addicted not needing it for any purpose but for insufficiencying, cast his eye round hopefully. Stephen reluctantly pushed a bottle towards him. Drink was not the best way to deal with the situation though, it may have clouded their memories but would not have comp leted erase them if sleep came it was as a gift and was as likely to come after tea as after alcohol.Soldiers on the front line could turn on each other, either because of alcohol consumption or just the fact that these men were pushed together in such bad conditions. Maybe getting ferocious at one another would give them nearlything other than fighting the enemy to focus on Hibbert raises his draw together and strikes blindly at Stanhope. The violence shown in Journeys End could too represent the battles winning place outside, as an audience member you never get to see any conflict between the enemy and therefore Stanhopes arguments and fights with the soldiers substitutes this. The anger Stanhope feels towards Hibbert and also Raleigh, could also show us how he feels and acts in battle situations.Unlike Journeys End in Birdsong we are able to follow Stephen as he goes out into No-mans land, fighting for his life but we also get violence in the trenches too Fuck off, Weir, fuc k off out of my way. The use of the word fuck is a powerful one we can understand Wraysfords fear just through that one word, all his fear for the battle ahead builds up the tension. In Journeys End Stanhope is worried about what Raleigh would write home in his letter, I believe that maybe another matter that Stanhope uses to redirect his thoughts away from memories, it gives him something else to think about. Which again leads to more violence Dyou understand an order? Give me that letterDespite these small areas of conflict there is a strong prow in both Journeys End and Birdsong, of comradeship. Men on the front line were often forced into forming new relationships with people and often because of this gained extraordinarily strong bonds with men they were fighting alongside with. This is shown by the example of Stanhope and Osborne, and shown to the audience in many scenes but mostly through the touching goodbye scene before the fatal raid and right at the end Stanhope and Ra leigh final bond over his death, Stanhope sits with one hand on Raleighs arm they had fought together in the same battles and known what the other men had seen, they understood.In Birdsong the strong relationship between Wraysford and Weir grew throughout the novel and like many soldiers on the frontline Wraysford needed Weir for company and to help his sanity, Weir alone had made the war bearable friendships like Weirs and Wraysfords meant that soldiers could get through the war together. They did not need to be alone. Although Raleigh in Journeys End believed he needed to distance himself when Osborne dies, Raleigh who is first seen as this bare character in the beginning of the play is opened to this horror after the death of Osborne, he now knows truly just how hard . He eats away from the officers with the other men, he finds it disrespectful that the others are eating and drinking. Maybe some may believe distancing themselves would mean when or if it came to them dying it wou ld not be as hard.Many soldiers needed to be friends, to join together because even though loss is hard the sharing of jokes in such a situation as terrible as this one may have helped. In Journeys End many of the characters particularly Trotters master(prenominal) form of escapism is in making jokes about the war and the Germans I expect a fearsome old Germanll cop out of it and say, Ock der Kaiser in doing this they are able to cover up their fear and make light of the situation.In Birdsong the use of comedy is more subtle, the soldiers go down to the pub and watch entertainment and laugh with each other as friends rather than making obvious jokes. rapscallion performing for the soldiers gave some time for the men to relax and enjoy themselves. If they could shout loud enough, they might bring the world back to its senses they might laugh loud enough to raise the lifeless although raising the dead was not possible, the idea that in laughing and having as good a time as you ca n they could remember their losses and keep them alive in their thoughts.In Journeys End some of the soldiers liked to talk about home and familiar things like rugby and cricket to take their minds of the horrors of trench warfare. Thinking about home would help them to remember how their life was before the war it would make them want to get out and gave them something to live for. Another thing they might think about is their girlfriends, wives or just women in general, I just prayed to come through the war and and do things and keep absolutely equip for her.Jack Firebrace cherished to survive for his family, dealt with the struggle with the belief he had his wife and child to return to His survival of the fittest was for them the care he took to try to stay alive was so that he would see the boy again. As for Stephen he did not have a family or anyone really he wanted to go home for, he kept on fighting and wanting to survive for the men who had died before, he wanted to w in, to continue for their benefit. The idea and hope that the men he had lost had not died in vain.With trench conditions as foul as they were rats, lice and maladyes such as trench foot one thing that could keep the men going was the idea and the relief of getting food. The importance of food in Journeys End is shown by how many times the men talk about it and bring it up in general conversation. Complaining about inconsequential things like chunks of pineapple instead of apricots take their minds of the war I say, Stanhope, its a terrible business. We thought wed got a tin of pineapple chunks it turns out to be apricots. The men on the front lines wouldnt very often have the nicest of food, and when Stanhope has to visit the Colonel and is given really high-ticket(prenominal) foods he immediately thinks of his men but he will eat the food as it is the one thing that he can gain pleasure from A thin stew followed, then undecomposed cheese and fresh bread. Lunch went on past thre e oclockStephen smiled to himself, aware that his truncated flight from reality would soon be ended.Birdsong touches on the idea of religion and how this can be affected by war. Many soldiers lost their faith due to the mass slaughter or even the loss of a son at home like Jack Firebrace however Stephen seemed to gain a belief in God, the idea that nothing this cruel can be the end. He hoped that when Weir or any other Soldier died they had a better world to escape to and maybe this idea kept him going helped him deal with the death of his friends.Journeys End doesnt really touch on the mens faith or religion, however the idea of hero worshipping used by Raleigh could be linked. The belief in a God and a higher being could also be like Raleigh looking up to Stanhope I believe Raleigh will go on liking you and looking up to you through everything. Theres something very deep, and rather fine, about hero worship. Many soldiers may have used the method of positive thinking like Osbor ne to cover up just how scared and fearful they were I never knew the sun could rise in so many ways till I came out here.Each soldier on the front line had to choose their own way of escaping and dealing with the horrors of trench warfare. The putrid living conditions and the everyday horror of death meant that it was necessary for them to break out of the truth they were living. Many of the methods used in both Journeys End and Birdsong are similar but their methods were carried out in different ways. Others didnt use methods at all, they just didnt cope like Hibbert in Journeys End faking an illness to get away. Each character in either Journeys End or Birdsong took on different methods of dealing with their long hardships and suffering.The straightforward horrors of the war however could not be forgotten, the spot of death and the stench in the trenches would not be quickly removed from their thoughts. These literary texts both play and book give us, today, just a brief insigh t into the lives of men on the western front, the challenges go about by these men were truly horrific and just surviving must have been a hardship. No one now or then on the home front could ever know the true extent of the struggle and the effects it had both mentally and physically, If they could see the way these men live they would not believe their eyes. This is not a war this is an exploration of how far men can be degraded.