War From The Officer's Perspective example essay topic

Lions led by Donkeys?' : The Portrayal of the Officer Class in Pat Barker's 'Regeneration', R. C Sherrif's Journey's End and a selection of poetry by Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. 'He's young; he hated War: how should he die when cruel old campaigners win safe through?' # The First World War claimed the life of five million fighting men. Siegfried Sassoon wrote in his letter of resignation: "I have seen the suffering of the troops, and I can no longer be a party to prolong these sufferings for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust". # This was an act of wilful defiance of military authority. Sassoon could not go on witnessing young men die violent deaths while 'cruel old campaigners win safe through.

' He expressed his conviction of the brutality and waste of war in grim, forceful, realistic verse. Poems such as 'Base Details', 'Repression of War Experience' and 'The Rear Guard' will be used amongst other references to portray his feelings towards non - combatant officers, i.e. those not at the front line. Sassoon was not just any disillusioned young officer: he was a war hero, with wounds and decorations to prove it. He was sent to Craiglockhart hospital after he was diagnosed to have suffered a nervous breakdown, however this was actually arranged by his friends to avoid him being court marshalled. Pat Barker's 'Regeneration' represents a fictional - historical account of Captain River's treatment of the war poet. The novel centres on the intense psychological conflict that Sassoon experienced during the war.

Barker provides a horrific and vivid depiction of war through the stories told by the patients of Craiglockhart. However, it is not simply war that is depicted negatively, the officer class removed from combat are sometimes portrayed as senseless dictators. Wilfred Owen, arguably the finest war poet, also features in the novel. His verse, owing much to the encouragement of Sassoon, is arguably amongst the most moving written in response to the Great War; it shatters the illusion of the glory of war, revealing its hollowness and cruel destruction of beauty.

Such hollowness can be applied to the attitudes of many officers, however it is important to make a distinction in class of officers. For Sassoon and Owen were indeed officers themselves yet they were worshipped as heroes and respected as fathers amongst the troops, it was the commanding officers who were the object of many soldiers' hatred. The reasons behind this hatred is more than understandable. The commanding officers rarely had to endure the harsh conditions of trench life or the terrifying experience of battle. The rank and file men believed that these non-combatant officers were the one's sending them to death while they sit safely in tents 'miles away'.

On the other hand, there were officers such as Sassoon and Owen, who were respected because they fought alongside their men at the front line. The portrayal of events in 'Regeneration' are largely accurate, making it a valuable source for a character study of Siegfried Sassoon. It is important to realise that he was not a pacifist and he found it ridiculous to suggest that no war can ever be justified. However he states 'I just don't think our war aims - whatever they may be - and we don't know - justify this level of slaughter. ' The word slaughter acts as a suitable adjective for the gruesome images portrayed from the images that unfold through patients' memories and the poetry of Sassoon and Owen. Their poetry manages to combine the best of mankind with the worst.

Their verse is elegant yet it is portraying the ugliest images man can create - the legalized murder called war. However, there is a clear distinction between the war experience for soldiers from that of the officers at the Base. This difference is clearly shown in the poem 'The rank stench of those bodies haunts me still'. It is made clear that the officers are removed from the real experience as he can hear 'gun-thunder... miles away' while men lie killed in a 'squalid, miserable ditch' while 'toiling feet's tamp them further into the mud. Sassoon often refers to the trenches as 'hell' and these images are vividly depicted through his poetry as shown in this verse: 'Savage, he kicked a soft, un answering heap... Terribly glaring up: whose eyes yet wore Agony dying hard ten days before: And fists of fingers clutched a blackening wound.

' Even such a short extract as this is full of derogatory words that effectively describe the war experience such as 'savage', 'terrible', 'agony', and 'blackening'. Sassoon's poetry is so effective not just for the extremely vivid images of horror, but through simple poetic techniques such as contrast and enjambment. He uses such derogatory words to full effect by contrasting them with adjectives such as soft, which is usually associated with comfort. Such a contrast emphasises the difference between war and the men's normal lives.

Enjambment is used in order to emphasise the ideas portrayed, such as the endless pain that the men suffered - '... whose eyes yet wore... Agony dying hard ten days before. ' The use of rhyme gives the poem fluency, which contributes to the impact that has been achieved already through the horrific images. There is no doubt about the horror which men had to endure, but what really angers Sassoon is that he believes such suffering to be unjust. The way in which the suffering is portrayed is the most shocking element of such war literature, especially when compared to the somewhat lavish conditions the Generals and high ranking Officers were used to. 'The rank stench of those bodies haunts me still' is evidence of such conditions, as it depicts images such as 'living clean' which bring back 'thoughts of home'.

One feature of trench life which is commonly thought of is the lack of sleep, however, these man based 'miles away' lie in 'brown lines tents which are hives for snoring men'. These images make one sympathise with the bitterness of the rank and file soldiers. Sassoon frequently portrays the Generals to be in good spirits despite the knowledge of the inevitable slaughter of their men. Indeed the Officers seem to belittle their troops deaths through comments such as, 'We " ve lost heavily in that last scrap'. Sassoon even refers to the Generals as 'Incompetent swines' in 'The General' and regards them as 'old men' in 'Regeneration'. The poem 'Base Details' portrays the officers as 'guzzling and gulping in the best hotels' as they send thousands of soldiers 'to death'.

Such an image obviously sheds a very negative light upon the officers and the lexical choice of 'guzzling' portrays a beast like characteristic. The use of onomatopoeia emphasises the poet's feelings while giving impact to the image. Philosophers believe the key quality humans hold over animals is the ability to have morals but what Sassoon implies here is that the general's have become inured to the war. 'Regeneration's' characters are nearly all men - British Army Officers, however they have all been at the front with their men.

Were they all cowards? Were they 'shell-shocked' by the concussions of artillery fire? Or were they perhaps simply the victims of the terrible psychological conflict that modern war imposed, between the instinct for self- preservation and the destructive imperatives of combat? For many, they were simply cowards. This was an attitude which fuelled Sassoon's hatred for not only officers not in combat but civilians too. He writes in 'Glory of Women' that people can't accept why men retire without wounds even when 'hell's last horror breaks them', yet they will 'worship decorations'.

This reference to shell shock can be linked to the sufferings of the patients in 'Regeneration', in that it tells the story of war that is not often told - how war may batter and break men's minds - and so makes the madness of war more than a metaphor, and more awful. Sassoon ends the poem with an extremely hard hitting stanza, in order to show the ignorance of people; 'O German mother dreaming by the fire, While you are knitting socks to send your son His face is trodden deeper in the mud. ' At Craiglockhart, Sassoon had a bit of good luck: he became the patient of Capt. Rivers. As the two men talk together in the novel they grow fond of each other, and a mutual transformation occurs.

Sassoon adopts the older man as a surrogate father and eventually comes to share his view that there is no alternative to returning to the war; Rivers accepts his paternal role and feels the conflict within himself intensified between his nurturing role and his military duty to send his patients back to war. In a few brief occasions, Wilfred Owen makes an appearance in the hospital. Owen had twice been blown about by exploding shells and his nerves were gone, though his commanding officer thought him a coward and Owen seems to have half agreed. Barker communicates this idea through Owen's quiet nature and an apparent lack of confidence when engaging in conversation.

He is extremely modest when discussing his poetry which has certain connotations of a shy nature. This may have been caused by his dreadful experiences in the war. Despite his modesty, Owen was the better poet of the two war victims. His verse accomplishes to fulfil Owen's purpose using both subtlety and bluntness. Sassoon, on the other hand, tends to rely on gruesome images of battle and suffering to make his point. Damaged men fill the hospital and it is Rivers' military duty to regenerate them for war.

To do so, Rivers must help them to confront the inhumanity of the war they have experienced, and to find ways of being human within it. For Rivers, the clearest way to humanity is through fathering. 'Fathering', he thinks, like mothering, takes many forms beyond the biological. Rivers had often been touched by the way in which young men, some of them not yet twenty, spoke about feeling like fathers to their men. If you are a father to your men, then your place is with them, whatever you may think about the war. 'Regeneration' is historically accurate on this point: young officers from Craiglockhart who returned to the trenches did think about their fathering roles there.

"I am only here to look after some men", Sassoon wrote in his diary in France in 1918; and Owen said much the same thing in a letter: "I came out in order to help these boys". To be a father is to be a man: but not as the army understands manhood. This is perhaps what is wrong with the commanding officers. As they do not personally know the men they are sending over the top, it seems that it did not make it difficult to send them to a certain death. Both Barker and Sassoon portray the commanding class to have lost some part of their human values - whether it be incapable of fathering or a lack of morals, they were lacking in sensitivity. R.C. Sherrif's play 'Journey's End' portrays the war from the Officer's perspective. This engrossing drama focuses on the relationships between Officers in command of a battalion fighting a losing battle against German forces on the front line of the Western front.

It is a study of men under pressure and tells a story of elitism and a portrayal of emotional problems on an incomprehensible scale. The author of the play handles emotion extremely well, the emotions go from the extremity of sheer delight to apathetic and repressive behaviour. Each Officer has a different way of coping with life in the trenches but they each display a surreal sense of humour. This is evident in the opening of the play when Osbourne and Hardy are discussing the drying of a sock. The men dwell on trivial issues in order to avoid the all too real threat to their lives, however, these trivial issues are actually of a great practical importance. Emotion is not a subject which is deeply discussed by the characters throughout the events, although when touched upon it is engaging and provides deep dramatic effect.

Such an occasion when the wild emotions of a character are discussed is in Act Two, Scene Two. Stanhope, the Commander of the company, is discussing his deep fear of life in the trenches to the extent that he wishes that he could "just lay down on my bed and pretend I was paralysed". Stanhope has a thoroughly important role in the play. He realises the fears of the men and is able to identify with each of the characters on a personal level, regardless of their class. He admits on one occasion that he is too scared to go above the trench without "being doped with whisky". This is revealed when he is trying to counsel a man who also shares his fears and serves as another example of 'fathering' which the sensitive officers seemed to have adopted amongst their men.

Despite being in the trenches, fighting as a unified force against their supposed enemies, Sherriff portrays the men not to show mutual respect for each other and the social divide between men and officers and in the case of Trotter, officers and other officers is apparent. The officers are fond of exerting their command. Personally I do not believe this is because they feel it is their duty but it appears to be an issue of pride. Each officer attempts to give the impression that he is coping, or even enjoying trench life. The text suggests that they may be trying to demonstrate their control and level-headedness in the face of such adversity. Each officer, with the exception of Raleigh, uses the power they have to its extremity.

The issue of class also plays an important role in the play. Each of the officers is a former public school boy, with the exception of Trotter. He does not appear to share quite the same passion for "rugger" as the rest of the men, his mannerisms, tone of voice and dialect also suggest he is somewhat different from the other officers. For example Stanhope calls "Hibbert, Raleigh! Come down here at once". Trotter on the other hand calls " 'Ibert!

Raleigh! Come on!" . Mason, the cook for the officers is the general rank and file man which we see the most of. Each of the characters, again with the exception of the young and inexperienced Raleigh, likes to exert their authority over Mason, but this is especially evident with Trotter, who quite obviously is from the same social class as Mason.

It is similar to an elder brother wishing to show his younger brother who is boss. Music, rhyme and children's literature are used effectively in a myriad of circumstances during the play. Such 'childish' things often appear when the two extremities already alluded to are present. Before battle, when the men are feeling "awfully excited" or after the bloodshed and despair of a battle, are when we find the emotions of the characters at arguably the lowest point during the play. When one is found in such awful circumstances it is not out of the question for such small and seemingly childish thing to provide much needed comfort. Self-gratification, belittlement of others and snobbery can be detected throughout the play.

The idea of social superiority is played on by most of the officers who take delight in degrading men who they consider to be of lower importance than themselves. The officers generally treat Trotter with respect when he is present but when he is absent the other officers are more than happy to criticise and question his intellectual capacity when compared to themselves. A good example of this is where Stanhope and another of the officers question Trotter's imagination, "That man has no imagination. He looks at a wall and sees no further", this suggests that they clearly think themselves to have wonderful understanding and imagination and believe themselves to be above Trotter in terms of intelligence. As I have mentioned before, emotion is rarely talked about - it is an issue, which is avoided and swept under the carpet by the officers.

There does, however appear to be a strange understanding within the officers ranks as to emotional issues. The text suggests that although the men do not talk about hopes and emotions directly, they are present and are detected by the other characters. Stanhope misses his fiancee and Trotter wishes to be at home with "the wife" and his garden. These wishes and hopes are not laughed at, they are not something, which the men need consider shameful, they are accepted and understood by the other men as a means of escape. The stupidity of rhyme and other methods, which have already been mentioned, put in place a surreal sense of happiness to cover up the raw, deep emotions felt by every man in the officer's mess. 'The battle', is rarely talked about by the men.

The issue, like emotion is avoided. The issue is avoided because it is an emotional issue, the officer's as well as the normal working men in the trenches know that this is a battle they will be able to win, this is a battle they are likely to lose friends in, a battle they could even lose their lives in. Understandably, the men do not like to talk about their present lives because tragedy and misfortune shroud it. Instead the men talk of their childhood and reminisce about their experiences of "rugger" and "playing for England". Their school days were happy days, days when their lives had stability- those are the days they wish to remember. They do not want to talk about sitting in a trench in the Western Front with the constant risks of death all around.

Many of the officers have clearly been in the trenches for a very long time. The text informs us that Stanhope has been in service for two years and neglects to take leave, Trotter has probably become an officer as a result of his ability to survive for a long time rather than his intellectual and leadership abilities. The young, naive Officer Raleigh was sent directly to the Western Front after finishing his studies at a public school. He had been attracted to the propaganda of tales of "fun and games" with regards to life in the trenches. He expected to find a jovial atmosphere full of happy, vibrant people, of course, that is not what he found. Raleigh had not been battered by war and still had expectations of the life he had heard so much about at home.

This appeared to unnerve the officers who have all had their hopes shattered a long time ago. In order, it seems to protect Raleigh, the officers avoided issues like death. Raleigh never loses the hopes he had for life in the trenches, he clung on to his expectations until the end. Raleigh was hit by a shell during his first major battle, he died soon afterwards a casualty of propaganda as well as war. Therefore 'Journey's End' portrays the officer class from their own perspective. Any conclusion about the characters in the play is one of mixed emotions.

On one hand there is the heroism within Stanhope, which men such as Raleigh respect and aspire to, yet he is riddled with snobbery and is obviously an elitist. However, regardless of Stanhope's rank, he is just another man destroyed by war. It is clear from Raleigh's descriptions of him in the opening of the play, that Stanhope was a much respected cheerful boy at school. However, he is warned that the war may have changed him and indeed it had. Alcohol had become this once school sports star's security line. This play effectively shows that officers were effected by the war just as much as their men.

However, it does indeed portray elements of Sasoon's criticism of many officers. These characters are officers who envisage themselves above their men in regard to worth and importance. Perhaps there can be a parallel drawn between men such as Trotter and Billy Prior in 'Regeneration'. They are similar in that they are officers who have worked up the ranks, not having just been made officer due to their private education. Both these working class officers are looked down upon by those in the same rank, but of public school education. This shows the mentality of the officer class in the First World War- one which is old fashioned and elitist.

Emotion is an important aspect in 'Regeneration' and is what fuelled Owen and Sassoon to write their poetry. After all, it is the soldier's emotions which have essentially broken them to the point of shell shock. The verse of Owen and Sassoon portrays images of war which convey the horrors of war, helping us to understand what drove these men to 'madness'. The two poets shared a common purpose in their early works which was to protest against the war. Their prominent style and technique helped to promote this purpose.

Their poetry can be seen as an attempt to destroy the glorification of war, and their anger is expressed through the condemning language of their verse. 'Dulce et Decorum est' is one of Owen's early poems and arguably his finest. It is a piece made meaningful by Owen's technique; his use of imagery and stark contrasts making his verse so effective to its purpose. The title is ironic, a Latin mantra used during the war to tempt soldiers into battle, roughly translated into 'It is noble to die for one's country'. Owen mocks this concept during the poem, ultimately rendering the notion of patriotism injurious and detrimental to man. This is intended to shock civilians at home, who were convinced that war was in fact noble and glorious.

In stanza four Owen attacks those at home who uphold the continuance of the war, unaware of its realities and unaware of the horrors which they are inflicting upon those who they urge to join up. In the last four lines of the poem, Owen directs this message to an individual referred to as 'My friend. ' This individual can be identified as Jessie Pope, the female author of several patriotic poems which epitomized the exact glorification of war which Owen despised. The mood of 'Dulce et Decorum est' is angry and condemning, the accusatory tone in the final stanza is characteristic of his verse, and clearly conveys that he felt war was not glorious and the act of encouraging young men to fight was in fact brutal. The penetrating cynicism of the last few lines is indicative of this, Owen bluntly stating that the popular epitaph was in fact, a lie: 'My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori. ' The poem consists of four stanzas of differing length and structure.

The first two are in sonnet form and the second looser in structure. Rhyme is also employed however much like the structure slackens, and in some areas rhyme relaxes to introduce a dramatic moment. The para rhyme is fairly constant, and the steady rhythmic quality it brings to the poem enhances the heavy, ponderous image of war which Owen tries to convey. He makes use of stark imagery, characteristic of war poetry, in order to jolt the reader into shock through his description of the effect of the bumping wagon in which the half dead soldier is thrown: 'the blood... gargling from his froth corrupted lungs.

' Similar to Sassoon's poetry, this use of coarse imagery helps communicate Owen's purpose, in adequately conveying to the reader the horror which the Generals have made these men endure. Characteristic of Sassoon's and Owen's poetry, the poem is designed to strike a blow to the conscience, as Owen seems to demand of the reader an explanation for all this suffering. Sassoon has a more obvious intention than Owen to specifically attack the 'scarlet Majors at the Base', as in those who dictate the course of the war. In the poem 'Base Details', Sassoon communicates the idea that the Majors have no sensitivity nor do they care for the soldiers. The way in which he views the Majors at the Base compared to men at the front line could not be more of a contrast. The soldiers which are sent 'up the line to death' are thought of as 'glum heroes' and there is obviously a great deal of sympathy on Sassoon's part.

However, he describes the Majors as being 'fierce' with 'puffy petulant' faces. Sassoon is clearly incensed with anger at the way in which the Majors think of the sacrificed men, as they refer to the battles as merely a 'scrap' and simply mourn the deceased through the phrase 'Poor young chap'. The purpose, besides protest, of this poem was to show how these 'cruel old campaigners win safe through'. The final two lines of the poem summarise exactly what angered Sassoon the most: 'And when the war is done and youth stone dead, I'd toddle safely home and die - in bed. ' Sassoon and Owen share a common purpose in their verse; they aim to shatter the illusion that the war was in any way glorious, but in fact hellish.

Their poetry is filled with gruesome images of battle and death as well as the loathsome conditions of trench life. The fact that an entire generation was being wiped out in battle while those responsible for their deaths would 'win safe through' is the reason why the commanding officers are hated by the poets. Their anger is expressed through the condemning tone of their verse. Sassoon wrote in his declaration that he believed the war was being deliberately prolonged by those who had the power to end it, thus the soldiers were dying without a justifiable cause. These beliefs are portrayed in 'Regeneration' through not just Sassoon's comments, but many of the patients. The character Billy Prior attacks the commanding officers not just for their lack of involvement in combat, but the general snobbery of the army.

This is an idea which comes across very strongly in 'Journey's End', in which class and elitism are important issues. However, Sherriff portrays the war through the officer's perspective, and shows how they also were destroyed by war. Any conclusion about the portrayal of the commanding officers from these texts has to be that those who did not fight were detested by those who did due to their elitist nature. Sassoon and Owen were officers which fought amongst their men and they were loved for it, they embodied what it meant to be a leader. Their poetry attacks those who did not fight, but supported the war effort.

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