Social class in Journey's End
When Sherriff was writing Journey鈥檚 End the social order would have been very different to nowadays.
By juxtaposing the public schoolA private, expensive, fee-paying secondary school, usually a boarding school. Public as in not run by the Church. educated upper class officers with working class soldiers like Trotter and Mason, Sherriff wanted to show how war brought everyone together and that there were brave men from all strata of society.
The portrayal of the Colonel - and unseen superiors - suggests that Sherriff wants us to question the decisions and behaviour of the rich, privately educated men in charge of the war effort.
While Sherriff does not mock them outright, he does give his audiences reasons to doubt those in power.
It has become a myth that World War One was badly planned by generals and politicians back home in the safety of London - the phrase 鈥榣ions led by donkeys鈥 was often used to suggest this.
Some contend the massive loss of life on the front line is proof, but it is of course very difficult to judge without knowing exactly why certain decisions were made.
The Colonel for example is noticeable by his absence, appearing on stage for only a short time despite his importance in the action of the play.
He quickly suggests who should go on the raid, understatedly describing the matter as 鈥渁 damn nuisance鈥 but 鈥渘ecessary鈥. This seems to trivialise the fact that he is sending men to their death.
Afterwards - on receiving scant information from the German soldier captured during the raid that kills Osborne - the Colonel seems triumphant. He declares, 鈥淚t鈥檚 a feather in our cap, Stanhope.鈥
In this way he comes across as ambitious and uncaring about the men who have died because of his orders. Stanhope鈥檚 sarcastic tone when he says 鈥淪till it鈥檒l be awfully nice if the brigadier鈥檚 pleased鈥 shows that he too is annoyed at the Colonel鈥檚 dismissive attitude.