Journey's End Symbols, Allegory and Motifs

Candles (Symbol)
In the dugout, the only sources of light are the candles the men light. At the end of
the play, when the candle that burns brightly next to Raleigh as he lays dying is
suddenly extinguished by the shock of a falling bomb, the candles are revealed as
symbols of life itself.
Worms (Symbols)
Throughout the play, Stanhope references worms, making unfavorable
comparisons between worms and officers who attempt to shirk their combat
responsibilities and wriggle their way home. Additionally, in a conversation
between Stanhope and Osborne, Stanhope questions how a worm can tell up from
down as it digs. Stanhope comments that maybe they can't tell, and he believes this
would be the worst part of being a worm. The statement symbolizes the doubt he
feels about the war effort: with no end in sight, he must push on, feeling his way in
the darkness with nothing to go on but the hope of success.
Drinking (Motif)
Throughout the play, drinking is used as a motif to emphasize the theme of
alcoholism. In order to calm his nerves and face the war, Stanhope has become
dependent on alcohol, and he drinks an entire bottle of whiskey each day. He also
plies other officers with liquor so that he is not the only one drinking.
Terrible Food (Motif)
Many of the play's moments of comic relief come from jokes having to do with the
poor-quality food rations in the trenches. Mason is unable to tell what kind of
cutlet he is serving the men, saying it looks like liver but doesn't smell like liver.
He also gets a tin of pineapple confused with apricots, and worries about incurring
Stanhope's wrath as a result. High command is similarly concerned with food: after
ordering the raid, the Colonel asks Stanhope, who is preoccupied with the
impending slaughter of his men, whether he likes fish.
Talk of Civilian Life (Motif)
Usually in one-on-one conversations throughout the play, characters distract
themselves from thoughts of war by discussing what they did in their lives as
civilians. This motif shows how the soldiers long for the comforts of life outside
the war. Simultaneously, talk of civilian life reminds the audience of the soldiers'
humanity; particularly when the soldiers discuss seeing plays and shows, this motif
suggests that the only thing separating the audience from the soldiers is the war
itself.
Journey's End Metaphors and Similes
Drinking like a fish (Simile)
In the first scene of the play, Hardy and Osborne discuss Captain Stanhope. Hardy
asks if he still "drinks like a fish." The simile draws a comparison between a fish,
who is always submerged in water and therefore always drinking it, to Stanhope,
who drinks alcohol to calm his rattled nerves.
Quiet as an empty house (Simile)
Early in the play, Trotter says that, in contrast to the usual persistent sound of guns
and bombs, outside it is "quiet as an empty house." The simile implies that there is
an eerie quality to the silence. In the specific context, silence is unnerving to
Trotter, as it means the Germans are holding off on their usual warfare as they
prepare to launch a full-scale offensive attack.
Tunneling worm (Metaphor)
While conversing alone together, Stanhope and Osborne discuss how a worm
knows if it is tunneling up or down. They conclude that it likely doesn't know, and
Stanhope says that he believes this would be the worst part of being a worm, to not
know. The statement has a metaphorical resonance: without speaking to the subject
directly, Stanhope is drawing a parallel between the situation of the worm and the
soldiers at war, who are unsure whether they are headed in the direction of victory
or simply digging deeper in the other direction.
Glorious bedroom eyes (Metaphor)
While distracting themselves from the seven deaths that the raid resulted in,
Trotter, Hibbert, and Stanhope discuss photographs of attractive women. One of
them comments that a girl has "glorious bedroom eyes." The metaphor is a
euphemism to suggest that she has a lusty, sexual expression in her eyes.
Collapsing dugout (Metaphor)
In the final moments of the play, the dugout in which the action has taken place is
bombarded with shells that collapse the entrance, thereby entombing Raleigh's
body beneath the earth. The image of the dugout changing into a tomb has a
metaphoric significance: the dugout in which the soldiers have lived turns out to
have been a grave waiting to be filled in.

Journey's End Irony

The content of Raleigh's letter (Situational Irony)
At the end of the first act, Raleigh writes a letter to his sister, who is engaged to
Stanhope. Stanhope demands that Raleigh leave the letter unsealed so that he may
censor it, as he is worried Raleigh will tell his sister that Stanhope is losing his
mind at war. Stanhope rips the letter from Raleigh's hand; however, contrary to
expectations, Raleigh’s letter is respectful, and elides any details of Stanhope’s
mercurial behavior or drinking. Instead, Raleigh focuses on upholding the image of
Stanhope as a hero who keeps his men’s spirits high through encouragement.
Stanhope stays inside (Situational Irony)
After spending the entire play preparing for the moment the Germans launch a full-
scale attack, Stanhope waits out the shelling in the dugout rather than joining the
others. Even though Stanhope has been paranoid about his men trying to escape the
attack, and expended energy convincing Hibbert not to wriggle away like a worm,
Stanhope's shattered nerves get the better of him and he is unable to join the men
who he forced to stand on the line.

Osborne dies during the raid (Situational Irony)

Although the concern of Osborne and Stanhope leads the audience to expect that
Raleigh is too fresh to the war to participate effectively in the raid, it turns out that
Osborne—the experienced and levelheaded officer—is the one who dies. In this
example of situational irony, the audience's expectations are undermined.
Contrast in the tone of conversation (Dramatic Irony)
In an example of dramatic irony, Stanhope and Osborne discuss the prospect of
Raleigh joining the raid party with concern, as they know the dangers involved.
However, when Raleigh enters the stage, Osborne tries to keep his spirits up by
concealing his fear and upholding Raleigh's belief that to be selected for the raid is
a great honor. In this moment, Raleigh's naivety is made clear, as the audience
knows how grim the prospect really is.

Journey's End Imagery

Hardy drying his sock over a candle (Visual)
At the beginning of the play, Captain Hardy is alone on stage, drying his damp
sock over the flame of a candle. This visual image illustrates the miserable
conditions in which the soldiers live in the trench, where there is nowhere to
escape the rainwater that forms pools and saturates the soldier's socks.
Raleigh's body entombed (Visual)
The play ends with Raleigh's lifeless body lying in the dugout after the entrance
collapses from heavy shelling. This final visual image draws a parallel between the
dugout and a tomb, suggesting that the men's living quarters have been little more
than a pre-dug grave.
Little bird singing (Auditory)
At the beginning of the second act, Trotter tells Osborne that he heard a bird
singing while he was in the trench. Amid the persistent sound of guns and bombs,
Trotter finds this example of auditory imagery strange and unfamiliar. The
optimistic and healthful sign of spring that the birdsong represents contrasts
sharply against the miserable conditions in which the men live.
Smells of bacon (Olfactory)
In an example of olfactory imagery, the second act begins with multiple characters
commenting on the strong aroma of cooked bacon which lingers in the dugout. The
suggestion evokes the typical breakfast smell for the audience, contributing a sense
of verisimilitude to the scene.

Journey's End Trench Warfare in World War I

During the First World War (1914–1918), trench warfare became common along
the Western Front.

In this area of Belgium and Northern France, the Allied forces of France, Britain,
Canada, and eventually the United States were engaged in prolonged military
standoffs with German forces. To take shelter from machine-gun fire and artillery,
soldiers on each side dug long ditches at the front lines in which they lived for
weeks at a time.

Battles and raids required going over the top of the trench and crossing the area of
land between enemy trenches known as no man's land, where soldiers might run
into mines, barbed wire, or the decomposing bodies of their fellow troops. Due to
the likelihood of being targeted by enemy machine guns, rifles, and grenades, both
sides suffered an immense number of casualties. In the particularly gruesome
Battle of Somme, British forces suffered 60,000 deaths on the first day of fighting.

Compounding the brutality of combat missions, life in the trenches was famously
hellish. Disease spread easily due to the unsanitary conditions of the dugouts, and
many soldiers experienced post-traumatic stress disorder (known at the time as
shell shock) from living under constant bombardment.

Trench warfare became less common in subsequent wars due to advances in

weapons technologies with the development of armored tanks and bomber planes.
Journey's End Literary Elements
Genre
Tragic play
Language
English
Setting and Context
The action in the play takes place in WWI British trenches over four days leading
up to the battle of Saint-Quentin.
Narrator and Point of View
Tone and Mood
The tone is humorous and bleak; the mood is ominous.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Captain Stanhope is the protagonist; his main antagonists are Raleigh, Hibbert, and
the colonel.
Major Conflict
The major conflict in the play is how to maintain sanity under the miserable and
despair-inducing conditions of war.
Climax
The play reaches its climax when the German attack finally comes and Raleigh
becomes paralyzed by a bombshell.
Foreshadowing
In the first act of the play, one of the soldiers warns Raleigh to prepare himself for
a version of Stanhope he has never seen before. This foreshadows Stanhope's
mercurial mood, a symptom of his PTSD.
Understatement
Allusions
In the middle of the play, Osborne reads Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a
famous children's book by Lewis Carroll.
Imagery
Paradox
Parallelism
Personification
Use of Dramatic Devices
Throughout the play, Sheriff uses the device of dramatic irony (i.e. letting the
audience know more than the characters) by showing Stanhope and Osborne
discussing Raleigh while he is off-stage.
Journey's End Themes
The True Nature of War
The difference between the fantasy of war and its true, horrific and demoralizing
nature is one of the play's major themes. The theme is most overtly revealed
through Raleigh's character arc. When Raleigh first arrives, his boyish excitement
at joining the war is shaken when he notices the quiet and the general lack of
action, which undermines his expectations of war being chaotic, frantic and filled
with triumphant fighting. Even when faced with Stanhope's PTSD and alcoholism,
Raleigh maintains his fantasy of war, choosing to portray Stanhope as a hero in his
letter to his sister. Raleigh's faith in the war is only shaken after he participates in a
raid that leaves Osborne dead. Raleigh finally moves from bearing witness to the
horrors of war to being a casualty himself, becoming paralyzed and then dying
from a shrapnel fragment. As a final image to cement the true nature of war,
Raleigh is entombed in the dugout.
Shell Shock and PTSD
Though the term "post-traumatic stress disorder" would not have been used at the
time, people used the term "shell shock" to refer to something similar, and either
way the cumulative and persistent effects of trauma is one of Journey's End major
themes. The theme is expressed predominantly through Stanhope, who suffers
what soldiers refer to as "nerve strain" as a result of staying on duty and refusing to
take leave. To combat his dissociative episodes, Stanhope drinks. However, the
drinking appears to exacerbate his quick fluctuations in temper, which is another
symptom of trauma-induced stress. Ultimately, Stanhope prefers not to
acknowledge his deterioration, as showing weakness would undermine his
authority as commander and risk demoralizing his men.
Alcoholism
As a means of soothing his addled nerves, Stanhope drinks heavily throughout the
play. To Osborne and eventually to Raleigh, Stanhope admits that he drinks in
order to be able to walk out on the front line without succumbing to madness.
Stanhope often forcefully offers other officers whiskey so that he is not drinking
alone, as though he can conceal his habitual use by making drinking a social
convention. Stanhope, while aware that he depends on drinking, seems to see it as
a necessary evil; when Hibbert wants to leave, saying he is unable to go into the
trench again, Stanhope manages to reassure Hibbert by saying he feels the same
and offering the solution of drinking together. In this way, alcoholism allows
Stanhope to deny the psychological harms of trench warfare.
The True Nature of Heroism
Throughout the play, Sheriff explores the theme of heroism, particularly through
the figure of Stanhope. Through dialogue between Osborne and Hardy, the
audience learns that Stanhope is a natural-born leader who has earned Osborne's
loyalty. However, this heroic image is juxtaposed with Hardy's negative views of
Stanhope, who he says "drinks like a fish." In this way, Stanhope is an example of
how a soldier's need to maintain the illusion of heroism can cause him to deny the
immense mental and physical strain of battle, as admitting his deterioration would
mean leaving the war, therefore threatening his status as a hero in whom people put
their faith.
Repression
Throughout the play, characters exhibit signs of emotional repression. In private
conversations, Osborne interrupts Stanhope as he tries to discuss the dissociative
episodes he has when faced with the battlefield. In a more public way, Trotter
adopts a blithe attitude toward war by casually making grim jokes about death.
Ultimately, Journey's End shows repression to be a necessary mechanism for
maintaining the outward appearance of confidence and sanity in extremely trying
circumstances.
Hierarchy and Class
The hierarchical class structure of early-twentieth-century Britain is replicated in
the soldiers' stratified positions of authority. Even though Stanhope is half
Osborne's age and much less experienced, Osborne serves under Stanhope. This is
because of Stanhope's privileged class position; since he was privately educated
(i.e., went to what's called a "public" school in Britain) he was given him entrance
to the Officers' Training Corps. In the play, class positions are also expressed
through the way characters speak: Private Mason's tendency to drop Hs suggests a
cockney accent, which at the time had connotations of being lower-class and
lacking education. Though the play does not directly address the issue, World War
I fundamentally reshaped British society, resulting in women receiving the vote
and improved living conditions for working-class Britons.
The Miserable Conditions of Trench Warfare
Throughout the play, Sherriff focuses on exposing the audience to the truly
miserable conditions of life in World War I trenches. Early in Act 1, Hardy jokes
about the two million rats that you have to worry about nibbling soldiers' toes and
bombs causing dirt to shake loose and land in the tea. The casual way Hardy
speaks of these things suggests how the soldiers get accustomed to life in the
trenches, but the effects are insidious, exhibited in Stanhope's PTSD and Hibbert's
desire to flee. By the end of the play, the normalized environment of the earth-
walled dugout entombs Raleigh's body, an image that implies that the soldiers have
been living in a pre-dug grave.