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Horrors of war in all quiet on the western front
Character study on paul
Horrors of war in all quiet on the western front
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All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque and The Man He Killed by Thomas Hardy both tell the story of men who are ravaged by a war and are forced into situations that lead them to have to choose between their own lives or the lives of others. While these two men’s stories take place in different countries at different times, they both go through the struggle of the universal soldier. The men were not naturally inclined to kill and both reflected after they killed another man that they could have been friends with that man and felt no true animosity towards their supposed enemy. The Man He Killed and All Quiet On The Western Front may take place in different time frames, but both ponder the same question: who is the enemy? Paul …show more content…
Yet in neither case did they kill their foe because they felt a personal hatred for this enemy. Both Paul and the narrator killed because they were ordered to kill and because they had no other choice if they wanted to survive. The narrator of The Man He Killed when faced with an enemy “shot at him as he at me, and killed him in his place” (Hobbes). The narrator understood that the man he killed was his supposed enemy and yet he still thought that in another situation the “enemy” was somebody he would “treat, if met where any bar is” (Hobbes). In All Quiet On The Western Front Paul shares a similar view to the narrator of The Man He Killed. When coming upon an “enemy” Paul “[strikes] madly at home” killing the man but upon further reflection Paul begins to feel guilty for his actions (Remarque 216). Paul realizes that he had no personal grudge with this man and was forced to kill him to save himself. Both Paul and the narrator are aware that the men they killed were not the enemy, but only Paul was able to discover who was the actual enemy while the narrator accepted his situation without thinking. Paul begins to look at the bigger picture and realizes that “perhaps if twenty or thirty people in the world had said No” he would have nobody to fight and he would have no need to kill (Remarque 203). Both Paul and the narrator understand that those fighting them …show more content…
In All Quiet On The Western Front the main character, Paul, begins to view the men he is fighting as more than just animals. In chapter eight Paul is at a camp in which former Russian soldiers are held prisoner. The Russian prisoners are given very little to eat and very little supplies or items at all needed to survive and in this image of misery Paul finally begins to see these men as people. Paul realizes that “ a word of command has made these men [his] enemies” and even more importantly that a “word of command might transform them into [his] friends” (Remarque 193-194). At this moment Paul realized that the men that he was fighting were more than his enemy and were also people. Even more importantly Paul realized that the men he was supposed to be fighting were not the actual enemy and were only the enemy because of a person's command. The narrator of The Man He Killed appears to grasp the idea that the enemy is human at the beginning of the poem as he says that if he and the enemy had met at an ancient inn they would have sat down to “wet right many a nipperkin” (Hardy). As both Paul and the narrator begin to view the people they are fighting as human their image of who the enemy is slowly fades away as both men realize
All Quiet on the Western Front takes place in Germany where a group of young boys are first encouraged to join the military. Thinking that it would be a great adventure, they enlisted, not knowing the fate that lies before them. At first, the group is sent to training. They aren’t in a serious mood, thinking that war conditions aren’t as bad as they really are. When the boys are sent to the front, it is only then when they start to realize how war is not great. This is when the boys are cramped into the trenches. Some of the soldiers were shell-shocked because of the constant bombardment. When one of the boys was wounded, he was taken to a hospital where there were many wounded soldiers. Some soldiers had to have parts of their bodies amputated in order to survive. When Kemmerich was in the hospital, Müller asked for his pair of boots. The boots was a visible reminder to the boys of the cost of war. Paul then has to face his own conscience when he kills one of the Frenchmen. He doesn’t see the face of an enemy but just a face of another human being. He tries to comfort himself by promising to help the fallen soldier's family. After Paul is relieved from the front line, he decides to go on leave and return home. But when he tries to tell every one of the horrible conditions of the trenches, everybody either laughs him off or calls him a coward. Paul returns before his leave actually ended, wishing that he had never come home. In the end, when Paul loses Kat, Paul realizes that the war has destroyed his way of life.
All quiet On the Western Front, a book written by Erich Maria Remarque tells of the harrowing experiences of the First World War as seen through the eyes of a young German soldier. I think that this novel is a classic anti-war novel that provides an extremely realistic portrayal of war. The novel focuses on a group of German soldier and follows their experiences.
In Erich Maria Remarque's novel All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul Baumer paints a vivid picture of the horrors of war. Many of these horrors are purely physical, such as the constant bombardments and gunshots whizzing overhead. But along with these physical horrors come mental and emotional ones. Chief among these is the "war mindset" that the soldier must acquire in order to survive war. The essence of this mindset is the total disregard for human life, and with it, human beliefs and customs. War requires a suspension of these standard human beliefs and customs. Paul outwardly appears to have acquired this "war mindset," but he does not internalize it and thus eventually dies.
Erich Maria Remarque’s classic novel All Quiet on the Western Front is based on World War I; it portrays themes involving suffering, comradeship, chance and dehumanization. The novel is narrated by Paul, a young soldier in the German military, who fights on the western front during The Great War. Like many German soldiers, Paul and his fellow friends join the war after listening to the patriotic language of the older generation and particularly Kantorek, a high school history teacher. After being exposed to unbelievable scenes on the front, Paul and his fellow friends realize that war is not as glorifying and heroic as the older generation has made it sound. Paul and his co-soldiers continuously see horrors of war leading them to become hardened, robot-like objects with one goal: the will to survive.
In the book All Quiet on the Western Front, author Erich Maria Remarque reveals a dimmer sense of the cost of war. The main character in the book, German soldier, Paul Baumer, embodies the cost of war before he reaches his ultimate fate. The tactics and weapons used in World War 1 were more advanced compared to the past as a result of the industrial revolution. Germany was forced to fight a two-front war and this intensified the losses suffered by soldiers like Paul and the other men in the Second Company (Gomez 2016, German Strategy for a Two-Front War – Modern Weapons: War and the Industrial Revolution). Remarque’s observations that he shares with readers are not to World War 1 because it portrayed not only the physical but mental consequences of combat. Regardless of what era of war soldiers were involved in they were the ones who paid the price for facing so much death.
All Quiet on the Western Front, directed by Delbert Mann, is based on the novel written by Erich Maria Remarque. It tells the story of a German schoolboy, Paul Baumer, and a group of his classmates, who journey from fantasies of heroic glory to the real horror of actual soldiering. Their journey is a coming of age tale that centers on the consternation of war and emphasizes the moral, spiritual, emotional, and physical deterioration suffered by the young soldiers.
All our senses are assaulted: we see newly dead soldiers and long-dead corpses tossed up together in a cemetery (Chapter 4); we hear the unearthly screaming of the wounded horses (Chapter 4); we see and smell three layers of bodies, swelling up and belching gases, dumped into a huge shell hole (Chapter 6); and we can almost touch the naked bodies hanging in trees and the limbs lying around the battlefield (Chapter 9). The crying of the horses is especially terrible. Horses have nothing to do with making war. Their bodies gleam beautifully as they parade along--until the shells strike them. To Paul, their dying cries represent all of nature accusing Man, the great destroyer.
Throughout the novel, we saw the men of the Second Company adapt to the harsh conditions of war and fighting on the front line. The first instance was the men going to relieve the front line. It had been fairly quiet for them, so the quartermaster requisitioned the normal amount of rations for an entire company of one hundred fifty men. On the last day the Company was on the front line a number of English heavies opened on them with high-explosives. This resulted in a severe loss, and the Second Company came back only eighty men strong. Each morning the men were served a ration of sausage and bread, along with five cigars, ten cigarettes, and one quid of chew. The men of the Second Company came to realize that because of their fallen comrades, they could possibly get double rations. Although the cook did not want to serve the men the leftovers they fought with him until he finally gave in. The men were joyed to receive double food rations along with a double ration of smokes. The loss of over half of their company did not even faze the men. Knowing nothing but war the men became used to dealing with death. All that mattered to them was getting their double rations. Being in the war had stripped any innocence that Paul and his fellow classmates had left, from them. Another example how tough things ...
Imagine being in an ongoing battle where friends and others are dying. All that is heard are bullets being shot, it smells like gas is near, and hearts race as the times goes by. This is similar to what war is like. In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, the narrator, Paul Baumer, and his friends encounter the ideals of suffering, death, pain, and despair. There is a huge change in these men; at the beginning of the novel they are enthusiastic about going into the war. After they see what war is really like, they do not feel the same way about it. During the war the men experience many feelings especially the loss of loved ones. These feelings are shown through their first experience at training camp, during the actual battles, and in the hospital.
While soldiers are often perceived as glorious heroes in romantic literature, this is not always true as the trauma of fighting in war has many detrimental side effects. In Erich Maria Remarque 's All Quiet On The Western Front, the story of a young German soldier is told as he adapts to the harsh life of a World War I soldier. Fighting along the Western Front, nineteen year old Paul Baumer and his comrades begin to experience some of the hardest things that war has to offer. Paul’s old self gradually begins to deteriorate as he is awakened to the harsh reality of World War 1, depriving him from his childhood, numbing all normal human emotions and distancing future, reducing the quality of his life.
At the beginning of chapter seven, the Second Company is taken further back to a depot for reinforcements, and the men rest. Himmelstoss wants to get on good terms with the boys and shows them kindness. Paul starts to respect him after seeing how he carried Haie Westhus when he was hit in the back. Tjaden is won over too after he learns that Himmelstoss will provide extra rations from his job as sergeant cook.
...solely as, “All quiet on the Western Front,” (296) adds an even deeper sense of situational irony. A day that is termed “all quiet” is a day that does not include any fighting; Paul’s death occurred on a day that there was no battling, and the way in which he died is also not defined. The sudden deaths of both these characters are the ultimate examples of the situational irony that is prevalent throughout the novel.
In All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul is morphed from an innocent child into a war veteran who has a new look on society. Paul used to have a carefree life where he was able to be a kid, but when he enlisted into the army it all changed. Paul became a person whose beliefs were changed because of the war. Paul doesn't believe in society anymore especially parents, elders, and school, which used to play a big part in his life. He changed his beliefs because society does not really understand how bad war really is and pushed many young men, who were not ready, into the army. Paul connects with his fellow soldiers because they are going through the same situation and feel the same emotions. Paul's beliefs were changed by the lies that were told to him.
Throughout their lives, people must deal with the horrific and violent side of humanity. The side of humanity is shown through the act of war. This is shown in Erich Remarque’s novel, “All Quiet on the Western Front”. War is by far the most horrible thing that the human race has to go through. The participants in the war suffer irreversible damage by the atrocities they witness and the things they go through.
Historically, American students are taught from a single perspective, that being the American perspective. This approach to history (the single perspective) dehumanizes the enemy and glorifies the Americans. We tend to forget that those on the opposing side are also human. The author's main theme centers not only on the loss of innocence experienced by Paul and his comrades, but the loss of an entire generation to the war. Paul may be German, but he may just as easily be French, English, or American.... ...