Compare and Contrast the effect of war on the characters’ from Journeys End by R.C. Sherriff and Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks

R.C Sherriff his play and Sebastian Faulks wrote his novel in different time periods. R.C Sherriff published his play in 1929 and the play was his experience as a soldier in the war, whereas Sebastian Faulks, who was born many years after the Great War wrote his novel based on research and the stories from his grandfather, who served in the war. Nevertheless both writers have successfully captured the effect that the war has on soldiers.

Most obviously, the effect of the war on Stanhope is that he is now become a heavy drinker. This is first discussed through hardy and Osborne when hardy brings up “how is the dear young boy? Drinking like a fish, as usual?” Stanhope also admits without alcohol and drinking he would crumble about going up to the line. He says to Osborne“. Without being doped with whisky – id go mad with fright”. He also says “I knew I’d go mad if I didn’t break the strain. I couldn’t bear being fully conscious all the time” he also seems to be making himself ill by drinking. Trotter exclaims “my goodness, uncle, doesn’t he look ill!” Trotter also says “there was Stanhope sitting on that bed drinking a whisky. He looked as white as a sheet!” Stanhope has clearly turned to alcohol to help with as an effect the war has had on him.
Correspondingly in Birdsong, Weir is also described to have turned to alcohol to help him deal with the effects of war. In our first encounter with him, he is described in this way; “But his eyes looked wild and red with whisky. The brownish stubble on his cheeks and chin was surely the result of more than one mornings missed shave.”

Stanhope is also paranoid as a result of the effect of war. He is obsessed that Raleigh is going to write home and tell his sister about how Stanhope is now. Stanhope is pathological about censoring Raleigh’s letter. When talking to Osborne about Raleigh he says “he’ll write home and tell her I reek of whisky all day” and he follows by saying Raleigh “wants to write home and tell Madge all about me. Well, he won’t, d’you see uncle? He won’t write. Censorship! I censor his letters – cross out all he says about me.”

There is a difference in the amount of sympathy the main protagonists have in both novels. In Birdsong, Stephen Wraysford is conveyed as a sympathetic man, as jack Firebrace says “They understood the difficulties of a man who had been stretched too far.” Contrastingly in Journeys end Stanhope has little sympathy for other soldiers. For example when Hibbert is complaining about his neuralgia Stanhope minimally says “get tight” which either means deal with it or get drunk. The effect of war on Stanhope has lessened his sympathy yet the effect of war on Stephen has increased his sympathy for the other soldiers.

The effect of the war physically on the characters in both novels has been conveyed excellently by both writers. When we are first introduced to Stanhope he is described to be “He is good looking, rather from attractive features than the healthy good looks of Raleigh. Although tanned by months in open air, there is a pallor under his skin and dark shadows under his eyes” Clearly the effects of war have caused some of these physical descriptions. We find that Stanhope has had trouble with sleeping. For example when Osborne pleads with Stanhope to have a sleep Stanhope replies “sleep – I can’t sleep”. An additional example is that when Osborne mentions sleep again Stanhope exclaims “Sleep! Catch me wasting my time with sleep”. Due to the fact that Stanhope doesn’t sleep much this must be why there are “dark shadows under his eyes”.
Likewise Stephen Wraysford has also been affected by the war in a physical way. When we are first introduced to Stephen in part 2 he was described by jack Firebrace; “Jack saw a man with dark hair that was going grey at the sides, he had a thick moustache that obscured his upper lip and big brown eyes that stared thoughtfully at him. He might have been from any age from twenty five to forty.” The war has evidently caused these physical appearances, as we see earlier in the novel, which is set some years before the war that Stephen is described to have “black hair” and “Stephen lifted searching eyes.” We also find that Stephen is only twenty years old. The evidence supports that Stephen’s physical appearance has been affected by the war.

The effect on war on trotter is that he experiencing a slow passing of time. He says “I’ve got an idea! I am going to draw a hundred and forty four little circles on a bit o’ paper, and every hour I’m going to black one in, that’ll make time go alright”. Trotter also doesn’t like the quiet as an effect the war has had on him. He says “too damn quiet. You bet your boots the boche is up to something. The big attack soon, I reckon. I don’t like it, uncle.” We would find this strange because we wouldn’t think the soldiers would like peace and quiet rather than the sound of shells in the trenches.

A further effect is the soldier’s acceptance of death, and their realisation that death is round every corner. For example in Journeys end the effect of war on Osborne is that he has accepted the possibility of death. When Stanhope and Osborne are talking about their plan for the big attack Stanhope says “yes. It’ll come while were here. And we shall be in the front row of the stalls” which confirms they will be heavily involved in the big attack Osborne replies “oh, well” and there is a silence, and the effect of that silence is that it shows Osborne thinks he is going to die. Stanhope has also accepted it is likely he will die as a result from the effect of war. Stanhope says to Osborne “it may not be much longer now. I’ve had my share of luck” consequently he doesn’t expect to be around much longer as he will probably die.
Equally in Birdsong there is a widespread acceptance of death, and that death can happen at any time and no one is immune to it. Jack Firebrace “thought of the stench of his clothes, the lice along the seams, the men he was frightened to be friend in case their bodies came apart the next day in front of his eyes.”

In conclusion the effect the war has had on the characters’ is very immense. R.C. Sherriff and Sebastian Faulks excellently illustrate how the war was a serious thing and not fun and games. The effects on their characters’ are practically screaming out at us, how people change because of their experiences.

Who are the EDL and how do we oppose them?

The English defence league is a protest group who claim its aim is to oppose what it calls the islamification of Britain, Sharia law and extremist islamists.  The EDL was originated after national sympathy was expressed for the group “united peoples of Luton”. This organisation was set up to protest against Muslims who would picket parades when soldiers returned from Afghanistan, holding placards such as “soldiers are not hero’s, they’re murderers” or “soldiers are baby killers”. This sparked outrage amongst people from Luton, and unfortunately they’re anger was directed at the whole Muslim community rather than the tiny minority of Muslims who belonged to Al-Muhajiroun, an organisation banned under the 2001 terrorism act.

The EDL hold regular protests up and down the country, and everywhere they go they leave a path of violence, destruction and create a lot of media attention. They are associated with violence and anti social behaviour, as there are usually fights, hostile crowds and racist and intimidating chanting. This has led to some of their demonstrations being banned. Wherever the EDL go there is always heavy police presence in riot gear, and every EDL demonstration costs the police force between £300,000 to £1 million pounds. This shows the threat that the EDL pose when protesting. Journalists who attend demos and write articles about the EDL have received death threats, and the national union of journalists has released statements about the threats. In Wales, stoke and Dudley the EDL have broke through police lines, injuring officers. This is extremely dangerous, because alcohol fuelled football hooligan members of the EDL are very dangerous, and they have the intent to cause harm.

The EDL have been described by the media and some organisations, such as UAF as the same and the BNP. However we see this as incorrect. The EDL are explicit about how they allow members of other ethnicities to join them, and this was documented in the BBC3 documentary “young British and angry”, where there were interviews with black and Asian members. The spokes person for the EDL is also a person coming from Sikh origin. The EDL also has a “Jewish division”, as they try to appear that they are not anti-Semitic. The main organiser of the EDL even has a mixed race daughter. The EDL claim they are not racist because they only target a section of Islam they see as extremist, and insist they welcome Muslim members. The BNP has only let members of other ethnicities join them because they were forced to by the law, and I don’t really need to explain other ways in which the BNP are a racist organisation. The BNP has also banned its members from joining the EDL with the threat of expulsion, and the EDL has condemned the BNP in many of their writings. Individual members of the EDL are certainly racist, at past demos there have been chanting such as “we hate Muslims”, however I believe the majority are disillusioned and have been given the wrong ideas and scapegoating their problems onto another race instead of blaming the actual cause of their problems which is actually capitalism.

The EDL still pose big threats. One of them is a ready trained street army ready to be coached around the country, creating havoc at every city they visit, and dividing multi cultural communities. They threaten to disillusion young people, making them believe all of society’s problems can be solved by stopping immigration and disposing of extremists. Many members attending EDL demos are attending simply because they’re looking to provoke a fight, or a social event in which they can express their prejudice views with many others. Dates for EDL demos are carefully selected, for example the EDL demo in Nottingham was the same date as the Forrest and Leicester derby match, that way football hooligans already riled up from a derby football game can take to the streets angry and more in the mood for creating havoc, in an effort to get the most attention to the demo. The aftermaths of demonstrations are extremely dangerous as well, with less police around and groups of EDL in the streets can be very intimidating for the public.

The question is though, how to oppose the EDL and how can we as socialists offer an alternative.

In the BBC3 documentary “Young English and angry” there was a interview with a young man who said “There’s nothing here for us, the people and the working class, white English men of this country, a lot of us out of work, millions of us out of work, were not being listened to, and the mainstream political parties aren’t listening to us, were poor, were stuck in a poverty trap, all we want is work, and that’s all we want, we’ve got no voice”

To me I think he echo’s the thoughts and feelings of a large section of the EDL. They’re not really racist and have a fascist agenda, they’re just angry at the mainstream parties and they’re looking for an alternative, because they just want work, though unfortunately instead of directing their anger at capitalism, their problems are scapegoated onto ethnic minorities. People like this can be won over by the socialist argument that capitalism will inevitably have unemployment and poverty, and only through working class movements can we overcome this barrier.

Organisations who oppose the EDL such as unite against fascism simply condemn the members of the EDL, displaying placards such as “BNP + EDL = Nazi racist thugs” and chant slogans such a “Nazi scum off our streets”. This does nothing but spur on members of the EDL and make them angrier. The UAF go to EDL demonstrations to oppose the EDL, however they do not attempt to offer alternatives to the demands of the EDL. UAF members have also been arrested at demos, and although sometimes this is inevitable, they serve to make the EDL look like victims. UAF have also broke police lines, and some of their members are there looking for a fight with members of the EDL.

However, the socialist party offers a real alternative. Our main slogan is “jobs and homes, not racism”. This slogan echo’s the demands of EDL members who aren’t at EDL demonstrations to shout racist chants, but because they are angry at the fact that the labour and con-dem governments can’t give them basic needs.  We feel that many members of the EDL can be won over, by talking and debating with them properly, rather than the UAF who go to demonstrations to shout abuse at EDL members, and not solving anything. Only socialism can meet the needs of the majority, because even if the EDL were to prevail in their agenda to rid Britain of the majority of Muslims, they would move the blame onto another minority. Reducing the population of Britain by deporting immigrants won’t stop the fact that the recession took place, and proportional unemployment will remain the same. The working class will still be exploited, cuts to the public sector will still happen, poverty and unemployment will still be a cancerous tumour in society and divisions between rich and poor will continue. The solution is for people from all walks of life to unite and work together in a working class movement to topple capitalism.