Journey’s end is based in the First World War, 1914-1918. The British public had no idea what the war was really like. This was mainly because of the propaganda created in the national press, who avoided all mention of the horrors of the truth as it was controlled by the government. The media dehumanised the Germans so people would want to join the army to fight against them. The army also tried to attract recruits by promising opportunities, excitement and travel, as not many people could afford to travel often or very far in those days. The army was very successful at getting people to join at the beginning of the First World War; a huge atmosphere of patriotism was created by posters, paintings and newspapers. Also, the pals’ battalions were created to make recruitment seem more attractive, by fighting along side your friends. Cities started to compete for more recruits and the press made people believe Britain was winning together as one big team. This is probably one reason Sherriff wanted to share the true horrors of the war with the public.
Raleigh joins the company near the beginning of the play, and is the youngest officer there. Him and Stanhope “were are school together” and were “terrific pals”. He had been “frightfully keen to get into Dennis’s regiment” as he says to Osborne at the beginning. The other character’s opinions on him vary. Osborne calls him a “nice chap” and a “good-looking youngster”, which is a contrast to what Stanhope thinks of him; Stanhope complains that he has put in the same company as him. Sherriff uses Raleigh to represent the young men who joined the army very eagerly, unaware of what it was really like. Sherriff uses him to show the audience how being patriotic and eager to fight is like being naive and foolish. When Raleigh is hit by a shell he doesn’t want to use it to leave, he just worries that he should be fighting with “everybody else up there”. Most soldiers would be pleased to receive “a Blighty one” and to go back home, but Raleigh just feels “rotten” as he is so eager. Raleigh shows his foolishness by his shock when he realises that the war is just about “waiting for something” rather than just “fighting all the time”. Men like Raleigh would probably only have thought of the war in a different way to the soldiers who knew the truth because of propaganda made by the press, not through any fault of their own. Sherriff would have wanted to shock the audience just like how the soldiers like Raleigh were shocked. This is why he made it dramatic when Raleigh dies at the end. In the last scene of the play there are a lot more stage directions than in the other scenes, and Sherriff creates expression through people’s actions and noises, for example Stanhope “sits with one hand on Raleigh’s arm” as Raleigh is injured, and Raleigh “lies very still” as he is dying. Raleigh’s “tiny sound” (“something between a sob and a moan”) is also used to make emotion. Sherriff shows to the audience that the war may seem safe, but you have to experience it yourself to know the true horrors.
Hibbert represents people who have seen the effects of war, either people who have fought, or people who know people who have fought and died. Other people think of him as a “little worm” and a “poor little bloke”. Stanhope describes him as having a “repulsive little mind”, although this may just be because of his drinking problem. Sherriff uses Hibbert to show the soldiers felt, and to put the audience in the soldiers’ shoes. There were people in the army who were too scared to fight and who would look for any excuse to go back home.
Hibbert and Raleigh act in completely opposite ways. Raleigh is almost always talking about the war itself, or “the Boche”, or holding “his revolver” and talking about it just before going to fight. Hibbert has totally different attitudes; he changes the subject to “tarts” and “damn fine girls”, or tries to use his “neuralgia” as an excuse to “go home”.
Raleigh and Hibbert dramatise the two contrasting views on the war: the ignorant, uninformed or naïve (or at least in Sherriff’s view) idea that war is patriotic, and the idea that war is destructive and a scary concept. The two characters represent the two conflicting attitudes to war of the public. Raleigh and Hibbert dramatise the two opposite attitudes to war by using different language and actions.
