Compare the Perception of World War One in ‘the Accrington Pals’ to the Reality of World War One in ‘Journey's End’ Essay Example
Compare the perception of World War One in ‘The Accrington Pals’ to the reality of World War One in ‘Journey’s End’ In ‘The Accrington Pals’ the women at home can only rely on the media to base their views on about World War One, however the audience in ‘Journey’s End’ see the harsh realities of what the Officers had to face in their day to day life. Although there are also areas in ‘Journey’s End’, where the Officers perceive information about World War One without any direct knowledge. In ‘The Accrington Pals’, we learn that it is set in Autumn 1914 which was when World War One started and Tom has volunteered to go to the war, for which he’s excited to enlist but he doesn’t actually know how it’s going to be like and as the audience watch the play they start to see his adolescence and youthfulness through his and May’s relationship where there is also stubbornness which forces them apart. I think that if May and Tom were more honest with one another from the beginning then they would have appreciated the time they could have spent together. May goes to the recruiting office where she meets Sergeant Major Rivers, and tries to appeal for Tom’s release and tries to persuade him by telling him “He’s too easily swayed. He lets others talk him into this.” Although the only way Tom perceives the war is by hearing and reading through the propaganda, media and officers which don’t actually portray the truth of the horrors because this would decrease the recruitment of the soldiers. However in ‘Journey’s End’ which is set in 1917, it shows a young naïve man named Raleigh who is like Tom but goes into war with the knowledge that the war has been fought for the last three years, whereas in ‘The Accrington Pals’ the soldiers were told that World War One would be over by Christmas but in reality it was a lie. Raleigh goes straight into the trenches and witnesses the realities of how the soldiers lived and their conditions, especially when Trotter helps Raleigh: “Just wear