Some people fake illness to avoid having to put up with the horrors of trench life so that they will be sent home like Hibbert who is claiming to have bad neuralgia in his eye, “It seems to be right inside this eye. The beastly pain gets worse every day.” People do this because they can not handle being in the trenches anymore and the only way for them to escape is to pretend to be ill so they will be sent home.
Most of the characters’ form of escapism is making jokes about the war, “You are a fussy old man. Anybody’d think you were in the Army” and the Germans, “I expect a nasty old German’ll cop out of it and say, ‘Ock der Kaiser’” this makes it seem less real and less serious so the men do not feel so anxious about it. Some of the men also tried to make a joke out of how boring it could be stuck in the trenches for a long time by writing silly unimportant things in their diaries, “5pm to 8pm. All quiet. German airman flew over trenches. Shot a rat.” This makes it sound like they are not actually in a war they are just watching for German attacks and shooting rats while they wait to go home and therefore makes it seem less important so they do not worry about it so much.
The characters in Act 1 play games and things like that to make the time pass quicker and to stop themselves thinking about the war, such as earwig races, “On the word ‘Go’ you dig your earwig in the ribs and steer him with a match across the table. I won ten francs last night – had a splendid earwig” this makes the whole thing seem like a bit of fun and would give them something to talk about and would help to take their mind off being in the trenches. Also Trotter drew little circles on a piece of paper which he coloured in every hour so that he could see how quickly the time was going, “I’m going to draw a hundred and forty-four little circles on a bit o’ paper, and every hour I’m going to black one in; that will make the time go all right”, this would give him something think about instead of the war and would make the time go faster.
A majority of the soldiers try to avoid the horrors of trench warfare by talking about things that happened at home and familiar things like rugby and cricket, “He was a skipper of Rugger at Barford, and kept wicket for the eleven. A jolly good bat, too.” Thinking about home would help them to remember what it was like not to be in the trenches and would make them want to get out of them alive again to see home, which would give them something to think about and live for. Another thing they might think about is their girlfriends or wives that would be waiting for them, “I just prayed to come through to war – and – and do things – and keep absolutely fit for her.” This would also make them want to get through the war because they feel like they have got something to live for and thinking about their women waiting for them would make them feel better and give them something to think about.
Some soldiers like Osborne try to feel better about being in the trenches by thinking that the Germans that he is fighting against have the same problems, “A hundred yards from here the Germans are sitting in their dugouts, thinking how quiet it is.” This could help him to feel a little better about being stuck in the trenches because he knows that everyone else has to suffer the same as he is, so he would feel less depressed. Also Osborne likes to think of some aspects of the war as romantic, “You must always think of it like that if you can. Think of it all as – as romantic. It helps.” Thinking of things like that would make it seem less horrible and could stop him from feeling so bad about the war by associating it with nice things like romance.
Lastly, soldiers like Raleigh look up to other soldiers like Stanhope and trust that nothing will happen to them as long as they are around, “I believe Raleigh will go on liking you – and looking up to you – through everything. There’s something very deep, and rather fine, about hero worship.” Having a familiar face with you in the trenches would make you feel better about being there and would help you to feel less afraid, especially if you feel like they will look after you and keep you safe and it could make the conditions not seem as bad as you have someone to share them with.
To conclude many of the soldiers find different ways of escaping the horrors of trench warfare in many different ways from drinking to having earwig races and each of the individual soldiers’ forms of escapism helps them to feel less anxious about being so far away from home in the war and helps to take their minds off the danger and horror of being stuck in the trenches.
