Captain Shannon's Character: The Question of the Dehumanizing Effects of War Jennifer Davies 12th Grade

Arguably, The First Casualty by Ben Elton presents the character of Captain Shannon as depraved and dehumanised by the effects of WW1, but perhaps the savage nature of war simply brought out a barbarous side to him that had always been there. The novel is based on the proverb ‘the first casualty of war is truth’, and this is depicted through society’s perception of Shannon as a stereotypical brave and selfless soldier, when the truth is that he often behaves in a callous and ruthless manner towards those he encounters, demonstrating that the true nature of war was not always obvious to those who were not in the midst of it. Arguably, one of the key purposes of Shannon’s character is to portray how the war could imbrute a man, as well as to juxtapose the sentimentality of the other renowned soldier in the text, Abercrombie, as the two men respond completely differently when faced with the hostility of war. Contextually, soldiers had many different ways that they would cope with the emotional trauma they faced, often turning to alcohol, humour, or in Shannon’s case, an extremely narcissistic amd carpe diem attitude. This could interestingly be perceived as his own vile nature coming out of its shell, or the harrowing effects of...