What Is The Futility And Pointlessness Of War In Journey's End

R. C. Sherriff’s Journey’s End follows C-Company over the course of 4 days on the British support line of the western front of WWI; it is based on Sherriff’s own experiences in the Great War, which he fought in from 1915 to 1917. He uses his critical perception of war as a vehicle to memorably present the fighting and subsequent deaths as futile, with a poignant emphasis on the theme of time: the monotonous existence of waiting and time passing. Other heavily featured themes include the repetitive nature of life in the trenches and the fragile humanity and mortality of men. Sherriff presents the soldiers in this manner to discourage young men from joining the war of their own accord.

The futility and pointlessness of war are shown firstly through

This codependency is most explicitly shown through the relationship between Osborne and Stanhope. Throughout the play, the audience is made aware of Stanhope’s dependency on Osborne, as he relies on him for support and advice on the handling of the Company. However, he remains unconvinced that Osborne actually understands him. This is directly demonstrated to the audience when Stanhope exclaims “You don’t really know, do you? You just pretend you do to make me feel alright.” Although Osborne makes continuous attempts to stop Stanhope from feeling alone, he never truly succeeds as he does not completely comprehend Stanhope’s psyche. Funnily enough, this is the only time either of them ever acknowledge the pretence that is their entire dynamic. As the audience can see, this co-dependency is incredibly unhealthy as in the unfortunate event that Osborne isn’t available to help Stanhope, he won’t be able to cope with the situation on his own. The way they retain this relationship throughout the whole play shows how humanity’s innate need for contact and connection runs so deep that the danger of it is overlooked. Another way this humanity and dependency is shown is through the character of Trotter. He is one of the most likeable characters in C-Company, for characters and audience members alike. Trotter is described as “genuine” and “natural”, as he often drives the topic of conversation away from the horrors of war, and instead, optimistically focuses on mundane, everyday normalities. During a conversation about hobbies, he admits he has an affinity for gardening. Osborne recalls a story about trying to plant some new flowers in his garden, but expresses that they wouldn’t grow until he put patches of moss around them. Trotter adds that the moss must have made “em feel at ‘ome”. This is an apt metaphor for Trotter.