Journey’s End: Act 1 Summary & Analysis

From the very outset of Journey’s End, Sherriff’s interest in the passage of time becomes apparent. “Tick!—Tock!—wind up the clock, / And we’ll start the day over again,” Hardy sings to himself, indicating just how attuned he is to the ways in which time moves. This focus on the time becomes even more evident when Osborne and Hardy talk about how the trenches have been calm and quiet. Indeed, a sense of anticipation builds during periods in which “nothing happens for hours on end”—a kind of anticipation to which the soldiers no doubt must be accustomed. 

When Hardy and Osborne discuss “the big German attack,” they once again reveal their sense of anticipation. Indeed, they’ve been waiting for this attack for quite some time, and even though it seems as if they’re edging closer to the actual event, they still are locked in a holding pattern of tension, one in which all they can do is conjecture about when it will actually take place. In this way, Sherriff demonstrates that one of the most difficult parts of being at war is the uncertainty that comes along with waiting for something bad to happen.

Although Journey’s End is not first and foremost a comedic play, there are often moments of dark or deadpan humor that shed light on the soldiers’ attitudes regarding the war. For instance, the fact that Hardy’s officer managed to go home because of a case of lumbago is indeed rather funny, since lumbago is an everyday injury that frequently amounts to little more than back pain. That a soldier would use this as an excuse to go home illustrates just how desperate many of these men are to leave the war. Rather than staying and facing their fears, they’d rather lie about some kind of ailment. On another note, Sherriff uses this moment to introduce Captain Stanhope before the man actually makes an appearance onstage, thereby building him into a figure of curiosity, especially since Osborne and Hardy seem to both respect him and disapprove of his drinking habits. By foregrounding Stanhope’s entrance with this conversation, Sherriff invites the audience to inhabit the world of anticipation—the world of waiting—that the soldiers themselves experience on a daily basis.

Sherriff makes an effort in this scene to present Stanhope as an unstable character. While Osborne defends his friend by pointing out that Stanhope has “never had a rest,” it’s clear that the captain is a bit unhinged, especially if a mere card game can bring him to violent tears. By preparing the audience to meet such a loose cannon, Sherriff continues to create the same kind of tense anticipation that the soldiers likely feel when they’re in the trenches waiting for something bad to happen.

When Hardy notices that the earwig on the table has been running in circles, Sherriff presents the audience with an image of futility. Despite how hard the earwig has worked—running for an entire mile—it hasn’t made any progress at all. This ultimately foreshadows the feeling of futility and repetition that bothers the men throughout the play, as they constantly wait for something to happen and then, after something actually does happen, they simply start waiting again. What’s more, the earwig’s pointless and repetitive efforts align with Mason’s unsuccessful attempt to become innovative with the ration meat. Indeed, Mason can try all he wants to improve upon the dreadful food he’s supposed to cook, but at the end of the day, he can’t change the fact that he’s serving the soldiers the same low-quality fare.

Because the small amount of information the audience has already heard about Stanhope makes him out to be an unstable drunk, the fact that Raleigh knows him from school is quite significant. Indeed, the circumstances of their previous relationship are quite clearly much different than they will be here. After all, going to school with somebody is quite different than fighting alongside them in the trenches of World War I. As such, Sherriff adds yet another layer of uncertainty and anticipation to the audience’s perception of Stanhope, encouraging them to wonder how he and Raleigh will interact.

Osborne’s advice that Raleigh shouldn’t expect to find Stanhope “quite the same” reveals his understanding of the ways in which war can change a person. Suggesting that life in the trenches can “tell on a man—rather badly,” he tries to get Raleigh to accept the fact that his relationship—or even friendship—with Stanhope developed in an entirely different context. In this new context, Stanhope may very well be a completely different person, meaning that the terms of his and Raleigh’s friendship will most likely also be different. Not only is Stanhope Raleigh’s superior, but he’s also a rugged alcoholic, and Osborne wisely intuits that this isn’t who Stanhope used to be when he was a rugby captain in high school.

The fact that Raleigh can’t keep himself from referring to Stanhope as “Dennis” supports Osborne’s notion that the boy will likely have to shift the way he sees the captain. Unfortunately, Raleigh doesn’t seem to fully grasp this, as made clear by the way he misunderstands Osborne’s comment about Stanhope’s temper. Whereas Osborne is referring to the kind of temper that causes Stanhope to erupt in irrational anger in the middle of a card game, Raleigh assumes that he is talking about Stanhope’s admirable tendency to hold the people around him to a high standard. However, it’s obvious that Stanhope—an alcoholic himself now—no longer cares about whether or not his inferiors get drunk, and the fact that Raleigh thinks he still would care about this just goes to show that the young boy hasn’t yet comprehended how the war has changed his friend.

It’s clear that Raleigh expected war to be a constant barrage of noise and violence and chaos. It’s natural, then, that he finds himself disoriented by the relative calm of the trenches, the “uncann[iness]” of the dugouts. In this moment, Sherriff suggests that expectations play an important role in keeping a soldier psychologically at ease. Although Raleigh would surely prefer calm and peace to violence and action, he has prepared himself for the latter, and thus now feels unprepared for the wartime circumstances in which he finds himself. Indeed, he didn’t count on the feeling of tense anticipation, the feeling that he is “just waiting for something” bad to happen. This, Osborne tells him, is simply the nature of war—it is a cycle of inaction and action.

In this moment, Sherriff suggests that soldiers must find ways to reframe their circumstances. This is what Osborne does when he encourages Raleigh to see the Very lights as “romantic.” Rather than dwelling on the ominous nature of these lights—which are used for chiefly violent purposes—he urges Raleigh to shift his perspective so that the lights become appealing and nostalgic, as if the soldiers are looking out at the blinking lights of a beautiful city.

Right before Stanhope enters, Sherriff uses one last opportunity to portray him as an unpredictable and ill-tempered captain. He does this by having Mason become fearful that Stanhope will berate him for obtaining the wrong kind of canned fruit, thereby casting Stanhope as not only ill-tempered, but also petty and unreasonable. Having thoroughly built up a sense of suspense regarding this character, then, he finally introduces Stanhope. What the audience sees upon meeting him, though, is not an enraged drunk, but a man caught off-guard by an old friend, thereby further casting him as a complex character, since he doesn’t yell or shout or do anything rash, but instead quietly tries to piece together his confusion regarding Raleigh’s presence.

Trotter’s assertion that Raleigh will feel like he’s been in the trenches for “a year” after only an hour once again taps into the play’s interest in the way time moves. The fear of war—the anticipation of impending doom—seems to warp the way these men perceive the passage of time, elongating it in strange ways and upending their internal sense of chronology.

When Trotter makes it clear that he and his fellow officers have to spend six days in this dangerous dugout, the audience begins to understand why, exactly, they are all so obsessed with time. After all, not only are these men expecting and bracing for a harrowing attack by the Germans, they’re also waiting to leave. In turn, there’s little chance they’ll be able to stop thinking about how the time passes, so Trotter decides to draw up a physical representation of the hours they have left. At the very least, this might help them feel as if they have a modicum of control over their lives, which is something they otherwise lack completely, since they can’t actually influence what happens or when it happens.

Hibbert’s complaints about neuralgia recall the story Hardy told Osborne at the beginning of the play about the officer who went home because of a case of “lumbago.” What’s more, even Stanhope seems to have let somebody leave the trenches before, as he reveals by saying that he allowed a man name Warren to leave because of medical reasons. In turn, Sherriff shows the audience that there’s a pattern amongst British soldiers of fleeing the war because of (most likely) pretend medical ailments. This is an escapist way of dealing with the fear presented by war. However, Stanhope seems resolved to keep Hibbert in his trenches, believing that such behavior is nothing short of cowardly.

In this conversation, Stanhope’s tone suggests that he resents Raleigh for admiring him. When he interrupts Osborne to say that boys admire their heroes “as long as” they are still “a hero,” the audience begins to understand that Stanhope questions whether or not he actually deserves Raleigh’s reverence. In this moment, Stanhope implies that he isn’t actually a hero, despite how much Raleigh might respect him.

When Stanhope suggests that Raleigh’s sister mistakenly thinks he’s a hero, he confirms the notion that he doesn’t believe himself to be worthy of somebody else’s admiration. He also reveals that he uses alcohol as a coping mechanism. Indeed, he admits he’d “go mad with fright” if he wasn’t “doped with whisky.” In turn, Sherriff shows the audience Stanhope’s low opinion of himself—an opinion so low that he actually appears to somewhat invite the idea of death, as suggested by his assertion that he would rather stay in the war until his “luck” runs out than go home. If Stanhope dislikes himself so much, it’s easy to see why he might resent Raleigh for admiring him.

As Stanhope speaks to Osborne, he confirms once and for all that his alcoholism has developed as a crutch: in order to face the war, he has to numb himself to his own fears. This is perhaps why he has so much scorn for people who fake an illness to go home. After all, if he’s going to drink himself into poor health just to stay, it isn’t fair that other people choose the easier alternative of leaving altogether.

When Stanhope says he worries Raleigh will write home to his sister and tell her how he (Stanhope) has become, he reveals another reason why he resents Raleigh’s presence. Not only is he unhappy Raleigh has come to his company because he doesn’t want to disappoint the young man, but he’s also nervous that Raleigh’s presence will negatively affect his life after the war. Nonetheless, Osborne remains optimistic, suggesting that certain kinds of bonds can withstand extraordinary circumstances. While the nature of Stanhope and Raleigh’s relationship will surely change as a result of its new wartime context, Osborne believes Raleigh’s respect for Stanhope will remain intact because “hero-worship” is a resilient kind of connection.

Amidst the discussions about Stanhope’s relationship with Raleigh, it’s easy to overlook the significance of his friendship with Osborne. Indeed, Osborne is a caring man who’s willing to let Stanhope talk out his feelings even when those feelings are fueled by drunken irrationality. What’s more, he patiently allows Stanhope to assume the position of leader, but when it all truly comes down to it, it’s not hard to see that he—Osborne—is the one keeping everything on track, as he puts Stanhope to bed and makes arrangements to ensure that the company knows what to do for the remainder of the night.