TOPIC: How do characters cope with the stress of the war in the book Journey’s End?
War changes men. Serving on the front line, Stanhope and his officers has experienced the full horror and futility of the trench warfare in World War I. Under the huge stress the war has brought to everyone, Stanhope and his men must find a way to deal with this problem. For instance, some of them evade the topic of war in a variety of ways, and some tries hard to shirk the war.
In the beginning of the first act, Captain Hardy jokes about the behaviour of Stanhope who has been drinking alcohol every day. Osborne defends Stanhope and describes him to be “the best company commander we've got”. According to Hardy's description, however, Stanhope is always “drinking like a fish” in a way that Hardy “never did see a youngster put away the whisky he does”. Later on Raleigh appears. He knew Stanhope from the school and Stanhope was the skipper of the rugby team. In he's memory, Stanhope is a “splendid” person and he can hardly imagine such behaviour as Stanhope's alcoholism. Osborne tells Raleigh that he may “notice a different Stanhope” and all that is just because of the “strain of the war”. The contradictory pieces of information shows the readers two different sides of Stanhope – a successful young commander and a drunk. After reading through the first act, the readers can figure out that Stanhope's alcoholism allows him escape from the realities of the cruel war. As a “freak show exhibit” that “gets a reputation out here for drinking”, Stanhope cannot be glad with this “fame”, but he turns to alcohol for reason. This is the only way to anaesthetize himself.
