Journey's End (Penguin Modern Classics)

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I really enjoyed reading this play. It's a short book but it's one of those rare reads where every line serves a purpose. For me, what was most striking was its subtlety. Unlike many preconceptions of WW1 literature, it isn't all blood and gore but is instead set entirely behind the front line in a trench dugout. Some may find it tedious that the set never alters from the dugout but for me this was definitely to the play's advantage because it meant maximum focus was placed on character. It was so much more interesting - and I think important - to focus on the minds of those waiting on the front line. We already know what to expect from the action in terms of shelling, machine guns and other forms of warfare, but far better was it to examine the mental toll this takes on the officers burdened by it. There's Stanhope, commanding officer, who quite literally drinks his fears away; Osborne, who very much becomes the father of the group and is driven by an almost deathly calmness; Trotter, who's attention largely remains on his stomach; Hibbert, emotionally vulnerable but terrified to break with his manhood and show weakness; and finally Raleigh, whose innocence as a new recruit devastatingly polarises the damage done to the other officers. The raid goes successfully, and they kidnap a young German soldier. This pleases the Colonel, but Stanhope soon learns Osborne has been killed. Like Stanhope, Raleigh is stunned by the loss, but the Colonel has to strain to show his emotion, as he’s primarily excited to pass on news of the successful mission. When the Colonel finally leaves, Stanhope and Raleigh look at one another as gunfire sounds overhead. He is therefore unhappy with the arrival of Raleigh, who is not just a boy from his school who hero-worships him, but the brother of a girl about whom he has affection. I'm not sure whether it is love. His brief comments about her are couched in such light-hearted terms that it is hard to tell. Stanhope is cynical. He is afraid Raleigh will show his sister what he has become and, I think, is afraid Raleigh's hero-worship of him will come to an end. The play is the basis for the film Aces High (1976), although the action was switched from the infantry to the Royal Flying Corps.

Private Mason, a servant cook, often forgets about ingredients and key parts of the food that he prepares for the officers. He is really part of the infantry but the company has let him be a part-time cook. Sherriff served as an officer in the 9th battalion of the East Surrey Regiment in the First World War, taking part in the fighting at Vimy Ridge and Loos. [7] He was severely wounded at Passchendaele near Ypres in 1917. [8] Post war period [ edit ] Sometimes you have to read something funny or say something humorous to kill the boredom and drabness of war or as an escape from reality. Do control your laughter on reading what Trotter is reciting.The play premiered at the Apollo Theatre in London on 9th December 1928, starring a very young Laurence Olivier as Captain Stanhope. In 2017, it was adapted into a film starring Sam Claflin in the same role. Raleigh explains the long twisting route through the trenches he took to reach the dugout. It began in a house’s cellar and then crossed the plains. Green lights bobbed up in the sky along the front. Osborne says they are Very lights, used by both sides to light up No Man’s Land to watch for raids and patrols. They agree the lights are rather romantic; Osborne says it helps to think of it all as romantic. Mason enters and apologizes: the tin of pineapple turned out to contain apricots. He says he knows the captain can’t stand apricots. Osborne's death, however, i was not expecting (i probably should've). and what made it even worse was remembering the things he'd said about his wife and his life with her, and giving Stanhope his stuff. AND THEN STANHOPE'S BREAKDOWN WHEN HE ARGUES WITH RALEIGH. i was in tears. A tiny sound comes from where RALEIGH is lying—something between a sob and a moan." Stage direction, Act III, Scene 3, p. 94 Sherriff also wrote prose. A novelised version of Journey's End, co-written with Vernon Bartlett, was published in 1930. [17] His 1939 novel, The Hopkins Manuscript is an H. G. Wells-influenced post-apocalyptic story about an earth devastated because of a collision with the Moon. [18] Its sober language and realistic depiction of an average man coming to terms with a ruined England is said [ citation needed] to have been an influence on later science fiction authors such as John Wyndham and Brian Aldiss. The Fortnight in September, an earlier novel, published in 1931, is a rather more plausible story about a Bognor holiday enjoyed by a lower-middle-class family from Dulwich. [19] It was nominated by Kazuo Ishiguro as a book to 'inspire, uplift and offer escape' in a list compiled by The Guardian during the COVID-19 pandemic, describing it as "just about the most uplifting, life-affirming novel I can think of right now". [20]

Journey's End" is a gripping and powerful read. I’d love to see this dialogue delivered on stage. It’s no surprise that this play continues to be revived. It’s a stunning and deeply moving evocation of the sacrifices made by so many young people during the conflict of 1914-1918 and well worth the hour or two it takes to read.

When Hardy leaves, Osborne sits down to a dinner made by Mason, the officers’ cook. At this point, Raleigh, the new officer, enters. As Osborne and Raleigh talk, Raleigh reveals that he knows Stanhope from before the war. He and Stanhope went to the same high school, and Stanhope was a respected rugby captain whose father was friends with Raleigh’s father. The boys spent summers together, and Stanhope started dating Raleigh’s sister. When Stanhope went off to war, Raleigh thought constantly of him as brave captain. When Raleigh enlisted, he even ­­asked a relative to help him get assigned to Stanhope’s infantry. Hearing this, Osborne realizes he should warn Raleigh that Stanhope has changed. Next the two men talk about Raleigh’s journey through the trenches to the front lines, which he says was an unnervingly quiet experience. Osborne confirms that it is “often quiet” there, despite it being one of the most dangerous places to be stationed. Osborne says they are just “waiting for something” to happen. maybe i'm just sensitive today, cause i'm not an easy crier. or maybe this play is just like that. i don't know. The actors were humbled. It gave them an incredible insight. Coming face-to-face with guys who’ve genuinely been on the frontline and put their lives at risk was a very sobering moment. ROBERT Cedric Sherriff was born in 1896 and educated at Kingston Grammar School and New College, Oxford. On the outbreak of the First World War, he joined the army and served as a captain in the East Surrey regiment. Once the war ended, an interest in amateur theatricals led him to The three-act play has themes of courage, innocence, human vanity, and mortality. The captain of this company and the protagonist of the play is named Dennis Stanhope.