Journey's End by R.C. Sherriff

‘There isn’t a man to touch him as a commander of men.’ – Osborne continues to defend and build up Stanhope for the audience.

Page 7

‘I love that fellow. I’d go to hell with him.’ – The personal aspect of his devotion to Stanhope is brought out by this quotation. There is something of a father-son relationship between them, as there will be fleetingly between Trotter and Raleigh.

‘Well, no, I don’t specially want to see him. He’s so fussy about the trenches.’ – Hardy’s status is reduced by his not wishing to stand up to Stanhope.

‘And don’t forget about the big attack.’ – A final jab at Osborne (the conversation has had an edge throughout), but, more importantly, Sherriff is keeping the main action of the play in the front of the audience’s mind.

Page 8

‘Ever had earwig races?’ – introduces a theme of absurd and pointless behaviour and chatter as a way of avoiding thinking of the war.

‘dip it in whisky – makes ‘em go like hell!’ – an ironic (and quite possibly unintended) parallel with Stanhope, whose determination and bravery comes out of a bottle these days.

Page 10

‘I should take your pack off’ – a humorous moment. Raleigh is as nervous as a new boy at school, and Osborne, the ex-schoolmaster, treats him gently just as he would have done a new pupil.

‘Will you have a drink?’ – This is the unofficial army greeting, used with almost everybody from the Sergeant-Major to the Colonel. Considering the fact that the soldiers can’t usually get a chicken, whisky seems to be remarkably easy to obtain. Sherriff, no doubt, intends to give the impression that the entire British army in the First World War was fuelled on whisky.