Further on in Journey’s End Raleigh gets shocked by Stanhope’s unexpected attitude towards him. He is unaware of all the things Stanhope has gone through during the war. Stanhope says, “Give me that letter!” to which Raleigh replies, “(Astonished) But – Dennis –“ and Stanhope finished with “(Trembling) Give me that letter!” Here Raleigh stays shocked by how Stanhope is acting regardless of the fact that he was previously warned by Osborne about Stanhope’s change. Sherriff is making the audience feel pity for Raleigh. Later on Stanhope gets even more aggressive and shouts “Don’t “Dennis” me! Stanhope’s my name! You’re not at school! Go and inspect your rifles!” Here Raleigh stands in amazement, as he never expected such aggressive reaction. We, as the audience, feel sorry for Raleigh.
When Raleigh is told that he is going to participate in the raid we get to know more about him. Here he shows how keen he is about the raid and the happiness he feels at that moment, which is a natural thing for most of the young people who join the war. When he was told that he was going to participate in the raid he said, “I say – it’s more frightfully exciting!” Here, Sherriff shows the audience how naïve he is as he doesn’t really understand the danger of it. Further on, when they’re about to make the raid, Osborne says, “I’ve got a sort of empty feeling inside.” To which Raleigh replied with “That’s just what I’ve got!” This shows that Raleigh was trying to hide his feelings to Osborne and sound “brave” but the audience knows that he’s scared, making us feel sympathy for him. The words “empty feeling” are understandable words of fear.
After the raid was complete, everyone was upset because Osborne had died, and Raleigh found it surprising that despite this, Stanhope was celebrating the success of the raid regardless of the fact that his best friend died. Raleigh went to eat with the soldiers whilst the others were drinking alcohol and laughing and joking. He then asks Stanhope, who told him off for being with the soldiers instead of the officers, “Good God! Don’t you understand? How can I sit down and eat that – when – (his voice is nearly breaking) – when Osborne’s - lying - out there –“ Here Raleigh was getting angry because he didn’t understand why the officers were acting like they were. He found that disrespectful for Osborne, to not even make a funeral for him. But when he asked why they were acting like that he replied (shouting), “To forget, you little fool – to forget! D’you understand? To forget! You think there’s no limit to what a man can bear?” Here Raleigh feels guilty about what he has said. Stanhope just completely ignores him, and as the audience we feel sympathy for both him and Raleigh as they are both in a sad situation.
The final way that Sherriff creates sympathy is by showing Raleigh’s death. He gets hit by one of the metal pieces from a shell that blew up nearby. It hit him in the back, injuring his spine and leaving him paralyzed. Here Stanhope tries to reassure Raleigh by saying he will be alright although he knows that that isn’t true. Raleigh asks “It – it hasn’t gone through, has it? It only just hit me? – And knocked me down?” to which Stanhope replies, “It’s just gone through a bit, Jimmy.” Here the audience feels a lot of sympathy for Raleigh, and the fact that Stanhope calls him by his first name shows the seriousness of the discussion and that he might not survive. What makes the audience feel more sympathy for him is when he tries to stand up to keep fighting and the amount of time he repeats Stanhope’s name to ensure he’s near him. This part of the play makes the audience feel even sadder. The fact that he has only been there for three days is what makes the audience sad the most; that such a young boy that was enthusiastic about the war and wanted to become a hero died so early.
In my opinion this play is very effective and vividly portrays the horrors of the war. The audience would feel great sympathy for Raleigh and some other characters. We, the audience, ask ourselves questions like “What if that happened to me or a close person I knew?”
