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.