Sheriff showed a lot of themes in this book, which made it very effective. The main themes were: Heroism, The reality of war Grief/mourning Irony of the play Cowardice/fear Hopelessness of war The cross section of types of people/officers The coping of the pressure of war. Duty In heroism, in this text, we clearly see that Raleigh tries to be a hero but fails. Raleigh (excitedly): "I say Stanhope's told me about …
showed first 75 words of 1671 total

showed last 75 words of 1671 total
… he's been in the war long, always doing his duty. In the text, we see Hibbert try to waste time. Stanhope: you're just wasting time as much as you can". This shows Hibbert is not bothered to do his duty; he'd rather die not being a coward, than going out there and dieing for your country. In conclusion, all the themes above where used to great effect in this play, by R.C Sherriff.