Sherriff makes it clear, throughout the play, that the horrors of war had a huge effect on the soldiers both mentally and physically. In this play you are going to find out how men who fought in world war one, coped with the stress and the strains, and you are also bound to discover the futility of the war as men died for no reason or for an effective cause.
Sherriff makes it clear and explores one matter with particular depth that describes the horrors of war. The environment that the soldiers fought in is described as an “alien landscape”; this would not make the men feel comfortable and would add to their misery. The landscape is described as an “alien landscape” because it has been shaped by mortar shells and it smells of death and disease. The men believed that nature had gone so they would talk about it in order to cheer themselves up and forget about the war. “…you keen on gardening?” this will make the soldiers feel more comfortable because it enables them to forget about the war and talk about things such as their life before the war.
Sherriff also makes it clear and explores another matter with particular depth that describes the horrors of war. The constant battering of the nerves because of the bombs, guns, murder and death, all because of trench warfare. The men would have to be on guard 24 hours a day because an attack form the Boche was inevitable. “Big strain” and “just waiting for something.” This would strain the nerves of the soldiers because they could be dead in a matter of seconds and normally nothing would happen for hours on end because each side was waiting for the other to strike