Compare and contrast how Not About Hero

Compare and contrast how Not About Heroes and Journey’s End demonstrate the significance of friendship and camaraderie in light of the opinion that ‘war makes some relationships but ruins others’.
Both ‘Journey’s End’ and ‘Not About Heroes’ propound the intensity of relationships between soldiers during and after World War One. In ‘Journey’s End’, the men are seen by each other as “terrific pals” and in ‘Not About Heroes’, Owen claims to be “proud of your friendship” when referring to Sassoon, and explains that the days spent with his friend “have been the fullest, the happiest of the year”. Both Macdonald and Sherriff however were keen to show the “realities of war” and therefore build many of these relationships up simply to have war destroy them.
The setting in ‘Journey’s End’ and ‘Not About Heroes’ is used by both authors to convey how the war and the different environments the protagonists are in have lead them to develop the relationships they do. In Journey’s End the setting is consistent, a British dugout on the support line. The importance of the dugout setting is indicated at the start when Hardy is seen drying his sock over a flame and singing a song about time, not only does this symbolise one of the main themes – boredom and waiting – it hints to audience about one of the main reasons why friendship and camaraderie became such a massive part of the men lives. The basic living conditions are illustrated by the fact the beds “in the other dugout haven’t got any bottoms”, this serves as a reminder to the audience about how hard life really was in the war and how such strong and resilient relationships between men can blossom out of death and gloom. The claustrophobic setting also ties into the time span of the play, the events take place over four days, this coupled with the foreboding sense of doom symbolised through stage directions makes the idea of unity a lot more realistic and intense. In ‘Not About Heroes’ the settings are a lot more free and