Discuss how R.C.Sherriff manages to describe the horrific effects of war on different soldiers like Stanhope, Raleigh and Hibbert.

Raleigh, the second character who is affected by war, at first was like a child who didn't recognize death or fear. When he first met Stanhope he was glad and excited to be with him in the same company despite that he is the commander of "C" company , he says "I'm awfully glad I got to your company, Stanhope", it shows that Raleigh cannot balance nor distinguish his life in the rugby team and war because in rugby you can be chose for playing because maybe your best friend is their but in war there are no teams but Raleigh doesn't have balance between them so he insisted to join "C" company because his best friend Stanhope is there. He always refers to himself in the first person using "I" because he is full of glorious and courageous ideas. The colonel had a curial idea and that is to choose Raleigh and Osborne to the raid, however when they went to the raid Raleigh and Osborne fought beside each other, but Raleigh came safe and Osborne was dead when they captured the German boy. The stage direction has an effect and an impact on the reader, the five senses makes the reader experience war.  When Osborne died Raleigh came headed down and his hands were covered with blood "Raleigh rises unsteadily murmur "sorry" and stands with lowered head". This quote connotes that Stanhope's best friend had died. Sherriff also used complex adjectives like "murmur" and "Unsteadily" that describe how war affected them, these strong words may explain the level of effect on the solider and it has strong tone while reading it. Further, Sherriff also used the five senses like "murmur" one of the five senses which makes the reader wonder what happened that changes Raleigh personality. As we know that war is futile we can see that they fought each other for nothing except causalities, panic and horrific atmosphere. This is like a chess game, Osborne died by the bombs of the German army, and the German boy was captured by the British soldiers. It's like trading souls or playing chess the small is captured but the big dies.  

Hibbert, the last character whom we noticed that war affected him because we experienced that he is faking his sickness. We didn't know much about him before the war, but through reading the play we can clearly state his personality and how war affected him. When Stanhope had a conflict with Hibbert because he wants to see the doctor to escape from war, and fake sickness, he says "Why, go sick- go down the line. I must go into hospital and have some kind of treatment", This quote shows how nervously he is and how obvious his secret was, this quote shows that he is a cowered and that he is an escapist, he escape from war by pretending that he is sick. Hibbert is not brave enough to fight in the front line. Along their conflict Hibbert admitted in an explicit way that he doesn’t want to die in the front line, he says "I shall die of this pain if I don't go!", this quote connotes that he is a cowered, but he shows how nervously and furiously talking to his commander. The pain that he was talking about is probably 'neuralgia' which is a rare disease in these days. I was asking my self two questions about Hibbert "Is ha a cowered?" or "Is he a hero", obviously he is a cowered but he fought his fear unlike Stanhope he continued to drink to escape from his fears, however Hibbert and Stanhope are hero's at the end because they both, at least, served their country.

"A Journey's End" The phenomenal play has conveyed a message to us and that was that friendship neither dissolves nor disappears, but sometimes it is veiled because war is where you defend your country and defend your lover ones from the enemies. The way that Stanhope talked to Raleigh at the end of the play was like a talk between father and son, this was the only moment where everyone was surprised from this astonishing event. As war affected these 3 characters (Stanhope, Hibbert, and Raleigh), but they're still best friends and workers in the same team.

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