Hardy tells Osborne there is a German attack expected to come soon, and the two soldiers talk about Stanhope, the captain of the infantry.

Although their trenches are situated only 70 yards from their German enemies, the majority of their time is spent in nervous anticipation. Hardy then gossips about Captain Stanhope, Osborne's superior and the Commanding Officer of C Company.More Hamburger icon An icon used to represent a menu that can be toggled by interacting with this icon.

In particular, he focuses on how wartime power dynamics and interpersonal attitudes alter the ways people interact with one another.When I went home on leave after six months it was jolly fine to feel I’d done a little to make her pleased. During his lifetime, he composed eighteen original plays, wrote fifteen film scripts, and even published several novels. This enrages Stanhope, and when Raleigh comes into the dugout, he asks why he would eat with the sergeants rather than the officers. Published just one year apart, the two texts look at different sides of World War I, and taken together, readers can begin to understand that the emotional experience of war is rather uniform, regardless of the country for which a soldier fights. Our resources are crucial for knowledge lovers everywhere—so if you find all these bits and bytes useful, please pitch in.

In this passage, he speaks of an officer of his who left because of a back problem and later claimed to be a combat expert, when in reality he was barely able to face life in the trenches. When the Colonel finally leaves, Stanhope and Raleigh look at one another as gunfire sounds overhead.The passage is significant because it represents one of many instances of officers using dark humor to deal with the bleak circumstances in which they live. C. Sherriff, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.