Escapism In Journey's End And Birdsong

Compare the ways death and escapism are presented in Journey’s End & Birdsong. To what extent do you agree that Journey’s End portrayal of death is more effective than Birdsong?
The early 1920s marked a period of silence in the arts as the problem remained on how to represent the war. The main struggle was getting plays staged because if they were, they were often failures, as no theatre manager was willing to take a play with a moral or historical purpose. Therefore, Sherriff’s Journey’s End, first performed in 1928, is symbolic in allowing the public of that time to be comfortable about the Great War through Sherriff’s experience. Whereas, Faulks’ Birdsong, although written 75 years after the armistice, is distinctively different compared
Whisky as prop in the setting Act 1 perhaps conveys to modern audiences a generalisation of how ‘all men’ used this as an escapism despite the fact that there was a lot of whiskey. Therefore, “Stanhope, the “hard drinker,” is always related to alcohol throughout the play clear through Hardy’s anecdote of Stanhope without Whiskey where he ‘cried.’ The dashes evident in Hardy’s dialogue perhaps signifies a pause or an action that Sherriff implements and therefore makes it easier for modern productions like Ian Brown’s to interpret it freely. However, Stanhope and whiskey reinforces his need to escape, especially after Osborne’s death, yet for people like Hodder-Williams, this exploration of a ‘chronic alcoholic’ was in fact rare in his experience. Another “terrible offence” is the fact that Sherriff uses Trotter’s reliance on food as an escapism clear in the stage direction that he put on ‘weight’ during the war service which is humoured further because it is paradox due to the rations in the trenches. The lack of pepper establishes the lexicons of ‘bloody awful’ reinforcing Trotter’s class and the men cannot cope with pepper, as it essentially gives them the kick to endure
The imagery of the ‘dead’ further explores Jack’s mindset as the bond between both characters situations around their humour, indicating the men’s laughter in the scene to be a remedy that figuratively unites the two. Escapism in both texts also explores how individual soldiers adapt to the war, evident through Stephen and Stanhope escaping the war on a metaphysical level. Stanhope’s abrupt dialogue of explaining his disconnection from the ‘universe’ reinforces that because of his rank, it is often generalised that generals are harsh, yet Sherriff’s use of the lighting and staging symbolically express Stanhope’s emotions through shadows such as the ‘dark corner’ in Act 3, Scene 3 allowing him to escape. Birdsong presents this metaphysical representation that Stephen refers as a ‘make-believe world’ explores the disillusionment that also affects Stephen based on his experience as he resorts to reflecting on his childhood to escape. Therefore, both writers move away from generalising the soldiers as heroes and convey their characters as individuals and in their exploration of