Stanhope Flashcards
Role?
-he is our main character, the antihero who we don’t know to love or pity
-the son of a vicar and
commander of C Company.
-his character’s personality, behaviour, and changes upon seeing Raleigh demonstrate and portray many themes…
-he’s a good leader, shown as brave, which is contrasted with his alcoholism portraying the bad sides of nobility in war
-though tall and attractive he’s alcoholism defies the whole stereotype of a solider and hero…making us think what a human really is and the futures of these soldiers corrupted by the true enemy-WAR
-how war can take people originally full of promise and reduce them to alcoholics eg
futility of war
almost funny to have an alcoholic, a seemingly negative thing, being our main character as a hero (and that his father is a vicar). almost as silly as war, nothing makes sense, so what is its importance
futility of war quotes
-‘I censor his letters, d’you see, uncle?’ (pg 34). Through solecism,( making a grammatical mistake), we are shown
Stanhope, who we know is upper class, speaking in an almost ‘trotter’ way demonstrates how his alcoholism strips away who he once was due to the war and alters the person he was before (much to Raleigh’s surprise) Also, it is used to show his fear through uncle which connotes an elderly figure, and he is almost speaking in baby talk, and makes him much younger than the commander we are now seeing, portraying how he is just scared (of his gf finding out he’s changed and war) and that his only way to survive it is through alcohol which almost seems silly when he is in tt he grand scheme of war.
-‘his dark hair is carefully brushed’ (pg 22) carefully adjective suggests he is organised and has control confirming Osborne said about him as a good commander however juxtaposes with dark confirms what hardy tells us, and he is an alcoholic, thus has an addiction and therefore loss of control thus a metaphor for the lack of control anyone has in war. this causes the audience to feel confused, creating a antihero perspective of Stanhope as it contrasts his negative and positive qualities together, showing how in war there isn’t just one thing-good or bad-soilders aren’t what propaganda makes them
-‘solitary candle-flame throws up lines on his pale, drawn face (…)’ (pg 95) personification of candle, as light is normally good but here its made ill through verb ‘throws up’ an illness indicating war is almost a disease, making good sick-bad such as with stanhope causing him to be pale, and solitary metaphor for him…once again is alone at end due to sickness of war… a sickness that never ends/goes away…almost ironic
-‘whenever I look at anything nowadays I see right through it. Looking at you now there’s your uniform-your jersey-shirt-vest-then beyond that-‘ (pg 45), Stanhope is basically saying war has almost made him numb and the use of dashes create breaks as if really undressing so we feel the nothingness like he does but also create a broken rhythm like war does-it breaks people and the good in people to see nothing which is futile as they are fighting for something…right?
-‘digging a magazine with a pencil’ (pg 49) as Osborne takes the letter from him to show anxiousness.
in THE SCENE (pg 8) we are told the magazines are of ‘girls in flimsy costumes’ and as the verb flimsy means not last long and costumes are like hiding who they really are it is a reference to
how Stanhope is like trying to create a costume so his gf doesn’t find out the new him.who he really is now. this is futile as the act of digging with a verb almost demonstrates how in this scene he is trying to push his secret further and further, leaving us wondering, she will find out but we hope she won’t for his sake as we want to see him happy.
‘I didn’t see you in the miserable light’ (pg 23). he says just before he sees Raleigh. personifying the light becomes a metaphor for Stanhope ad foreshadows how even more miserable he is going to feel in war as now Raleigh is the only thing blocking his way back home. also light normally connotates positive things and so the adjective miserable shows how Raleigh is going to be the major dilema/ conflict to the only light he had-his gf. also ref to war making all sour.
coping mechanism
they all try to cope with their fear. Stanhope uses alcohol to deny and forget what’s happening. sheriff wrote the book as an epitaph for the dead, and Stanhope allows us to see the truth about war through their coping mechanisms, how truly scared they were and how hard it was to survive emotionally, and makes us wonder their humanity
coping mechanism quotes
‘she doesn’t know that if I went up those steps into the front line-without being doped with whisky-i’d go mad with fright’ (pg 31) comfortable enough to seem less of a leader in front of osborne (vulnerable)-a type of coping mechanism. also fright is made a noun, thing, more tangible his fear is made so real to the audience we can see how rough war is and that he really needs the drink. doped also means to administer drugs to an athlete, racehorse or greyhound which demonstrates how soliders are in a race to survive in so many ways, mentally and physically, and alcohol does this for him. also paranthesis on the whisky part emphasises this like how it separates him from the world fear
-‘he takes a whisky and a water’ (pg 28)as he talks with Osborne and says he can’t sleep. use of determiners make them more physical, and alliteration of whisky and water similar, as if whisky is just as important as water for him to survive
-‘…she goes on thinking I’m a fine fellow for ever-and ever-and ever’(…)’ and ‘(he pours out a drink, murmuring ‘ever-and ever-and ever’ (pg 33) saying ever about his girlfriend thinking he’s a fine chap. adverb dreaming in stage directions connotes its not real but also show how alcohol allows him to move away from war. also pouring a drink whilst use of repetition on forever portrays and emphasises how alcohol allows him to escape from reality and also makes us feel the foreverness, waiting in war, with the Evers
-‘To forget, you little fool-to forget! You think there’s no limit to what a man can bear?’ (pg 85) when Raleigh asks how they can smoke and drink when Osborne is dead.
repeating to forget makes stanhope almost frantic and emphasises his need for alcohol in order to survive. ‘you little fool’ as adjective little portrays the youth in Raleigh but we are also reminded stanhope is only a few years older, so he too is little which makes it just sad that he is an alcoholic. use of noun ‘fool’ makes the question stupid, as if it is a fact of life that in order to survive war you must forget yourself ie alcohol, showing the expense of it.. range of punctuation
Cowardice and Courage
all of them are scared. Stanhope has both, we love him but he is also a coward-not our stereotypical hero, portraying how war is too romanticised. these are humans they feel emotions. condones cowardice through Stanhope as leader and addiction, but also explains it
Cowardice and Courage quotes
-‘pallor under his skin’ (pg 22) unusual lightness connotes an uneven ratio and it is not a healthy life style yet he remains, has that heroic look-risking life. audience like him because he is heroic, despite all happening, but he also looks ill-what is courage worth?
-‘another little worm trying to wriggle home’ (pg 29) on hibbert. use of zoomorphism makes hibbert (all soldiers) as if they are animals, for used, less than humans and die, but connotes this further for cowards and portrays they are small through verb wriggle which emphasises worm like movements—imagery connotes bad but home connotes good…contradictory as we are made to feel some sympathy/alternatively not.
-‘I couldn’t bear being fully conscious all the time-you’ve felt that, Uncle, haven’t you?’ (pg 32) one could argue it is cowards for him to hide from the fear through drink. emphases by, ‘being fully conscious’ which one would think is a norm, but here being conscious means you’re feeling the terrible effects of war
-‘One was pretending I was ill-and going home; the other was this. (he holds up his glass)’ (pg 32). holding up glass verb connotes congratulations, a toast but this is a frequent activity from stanhope, so it is also a symbol for his alcoholism, this demonstrating ‘courage’ as we see it, comes at a cost…is it better to leave or forever change yourself and who you are?
-‘he goes stiffly up the steps, his tall figure black against the dawn sky’ (pg 95) it should be courage as he is continuing on despite all this great trauma however verb stiffly connotes its not right…its horrid. tall adds to courage, drawing him up as some big, great hero, but the noun figure also distances him into just another soilder with an unknown fate furthered with black which means funeral, juxtaposing with dawn sky which means a new day light, however courage coming at a cost-death each day-even foreshadowing/implying his own.
COMRADESHIP AND COMPANIONSHIP (links to coping mechanisms)
goes with futility. portrays effect of war on personal relationships. In particular, he focuses on how wartime power dynamics and interpersonal attitudes alter the ways people interact with one another, past(HOME) and present. also a form of coping mechanism
COMRADESHIP AND COMPANIONSHIP quotes
-‘You’re coming back, old man. Damn it! What on earth shall I do without you?(pg68). range of punctuation demonstrates ranging emotions from full stop to exclamation mark then question, shows he’s just a boy and needs his ‘uncle’ and how in war people are the reason we fight people are reason we need. he doesn’t know he’s coming back for sure, even sadder for audience which hopes for him.
-‘Is that better, Jimmy. (Raleigh makes no sign.) Jimmy-‘ (pg 95) use of first name personalises their relationship and the cutting off the sentence with jimmy portrays overwhelm with emotion, but also that their relationship has been cut off by war.
-‘I just prayed to come through the war-and-and do things and keep absolutely fit for her’ (pg 32) human interaction, though absence is a motivation for all. prayer connotes God, a big deity, portraying his love and enthusiasm for her as big as force as god, as a driving force to survive.
-‘The one man I could trust-my best friend-the one man I could talk to as man to man-‘ (pg 85) use of noun man distances him, the effect of death. then relationship is personalised ‘my best friend’ which through the dash, is almost like cracks coming down and he is vulnerable emphasises this to deepen relationships. also sentence structure is made broken and short pauses and long, to reflect the state he is without his best friend
