Paul's Facade in All Quiet on the Western Front
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.
For the most part, Paul at least outwardly appears to have adopted the war mindset. His actions are very much those of the typical soldier. For example, Paul, like all the other soldiers, will do anything he can for food. He is well accustomed to relieving himself out of doors: "Here in the open air though, the business is entirely a pleasure. I no longer understand why we should always have shied at these things before. They are, in fact, just as natural as eating and drinking" (8). Most of all, he values his survival above social customs: "We have lost all sense of other considerations, because they are artificial. Only the facts are real and important for us. And good boots are scarce" (21). For Paul, as for most soldiers, the rules of normal, polite society simply do not apply at the front. In the time between Paul's volunteering for the war and the beginning of the book, he has changed. For all the physical evidence, he is a common foot soldier.
But Paul's transformatio...
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... Paul wanted to get out of the war. Maybe Paul died on the right day; he loves quiet, and he dies on possibly the quietest day of the whole war. Maybe he just wanted to end his misery. In any case, Paul cannot accept the philosophy of war and thus gives himself up for death.
Society wants soldiers to believe that war is glorious. But it is not. Society wants soldiers to believe war is an adventure. But it is not. Society wants soldiers to believe that our enemy is the only enemy, that our cause is the only cause, that our people are the only people. But there are many enemies, many causes and many peoples. According to Paul, all these causes are equally ignoble, and none of these enemies are worthy of being slaughtered en masse. For Paul, as for many people, past, present, and future, war is simply unacceptable, and nothing can repair the damage it does.
In my opinion Paul is saying that the diseases were nobody's fault and could have been avoided, but war, in comparison, could have been avoided and is mans fault. War in the end does kill Paul, but not before his closest friends are killed. Katczinsky is hit by shrapnel and is horrifically described by the author here: "Kat got a splinter of shrapnel in his head on the way. The war has ripped apart Paul's life, and now his closest friend is dead. The final chapter describes Paul's last days and how he is resigned to dying.
In war many people had a fixed view of how war was. In the book All Quiet On the Western Front the main character Paul went home and listened to his father talk to his friends about how good the war truly was. Paul sat and watched and didn't say anything because he didn't want to ruin the perspectives of the men and it was simply too hard for him to talk about.”I realise
So said German World War I Veteran, Erich Maria Remarque, in his book All Quiet on The Western Front. War is an extremely complex and corrupt affair that many can’t even begin to comprehend. This juxtaposing quote perfectly depicts how Remarque’s detailed and personal novel allows the reader inside the mind of a soldier, giving unique insight on war. The novel follows the events narrator Paul Bäumer encounters whilst at war and shows Bäumer’s reflective thoughts on these events. This form of narration is a large part of what makes the book so effective. The book conveys many strong messages about war but the most prominent ones in the story line are:
While Paul and his comrades fight on the front lines, Paul narrates, “We have become wild beasts...It is not against men that we fling our bombs, what do we know of men in this moment when Death is hunting us down.” (Remarque 113). “Beasts” are known to rely and live by survival, and the connotation of the word “beast” implies a sense of savagery and barbarity. This prioritization of pure survival for Paul, simply being a “beast”, then neglects other humanizing proponents. These proponents include emotions of shame and guilt because of the deaths of these enemy soldiers. This neglect follows up with, “what do we know of men in this moment when Death is hunting us down.” The personification of death in this quote paints it as a physical threat within that moment. During the previous portion of the quote, “what do we know of men” is truly where the disconnect between the soldiers’ sense of humanity and their need to survive occurs as a juxtaposition between the enemy soldiers and death itself. One is viewed as frivolous and insignificant, “men” are human-beings that one can feel an emotional connection towards. However, “death” is a dire threat within that moment. They must view these individuals as nothing but obstacles and enemies to be overcome. The shame and guilt of taking
In Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul Baumer, a German soldier, along with his comrades, suffer through traumatic events and devastating losses as they struggle to survive the violent maelstrom of the Great War. As they fight, the grave circumstances and decimated landscapes they witness has a haunting effect on them. In order to cope with this drastic setting, they resort to dehumanization. By seeing their enemies as less than human, the war conditions them to kill, relying solely on instinct alone. They distance themselves from their comrades by dehumanizing them, making it easier to cope with their deaths. To maintain their sanity and face the horrors of the war, Paul and his company must suppress their humanity.
In ?A Rose for Emily?, tradition is also shown in three main ways. First, Emily does not get courted by anyone. This would not seem to be a normal tradition but in the story her father did not want Emily to become involved with anyone. Emily?s father was not following tradition when doing this because normal t...
Erich Maria Remarque's classic war novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, deals with the many ways in which World War I affected people's lives, both the lives of soldiers on the front lines and the lives of people on the homefront. One of the most profound effects the war had was the way it made the soldiers see human life. Constant killing and death became a part of a soldier's daily life, and soldiers fighting on all sides of the war became accustomed to it. The atrocities and frequent deaths that the soldiers dealt with desensitized them to the reality of the vast quantities of people dying daily. The title character of the novel, Paul Bäumer, and his friends experience the devaluation of human life firsthand, and from these experiences they become stronger and learn to live as if every day were their last.
Mental derangement; insanity. The theme of All Quiet on the Western Front is about how World War I destroyed a generation of young men. It has taken from them the last of their childhood years, it has destroyed their faith in their elders, it has taught them an individual life is meaningless--and all it has given in return is the ability to appreciate basic physical pleasures. According to Paul, though, the men haven't entirely lost human sensitivity: they're not as callous as they appeared in Chapter 1, wolfing down their dead companions' rations.
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 the future, reducing the quality of his life. At the age of nineteen, Paul naively enlists in World War 1, blind to the fact he has now taken away his own childhood.
In Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul and his allies feel disillusioned when they realize the true horrors and futility of the war. Paul, when reflecting on joining the war, remarks that “no one had the vaguest idea what we were in for”(Remarque 10). When Paul arrives at the front, he has multiple false beliefs. These beliefs come from his officers, his teachers, his parents, and “all the rot they put in the war-news”(141). Throughout the book, these beliefs are shattered, leaving Paul feeling disillusioned and betrayed. One instance of Paul being disillusioned is when he realizes how poorly equipped the soldiers would remain, despite promises from their officers. This disillusionment is compounded when, before an inspection from Kaiser Wilhelm II, Paul, and his fellow soldiers, are given proper equipment; Paul assumes that his superiors gave this equipment for them to keep. After the inspection, Paul’s superiors force him to return the equipment for his old, tattered clothing. This shows Paul that the German army constantly displays a fake image in order to lure in young men like himself. The way the army treats Paul and his friends, and the horrors of war, lead to them feeling disillusioned about their older generation. Paul remarks about his superiors,
War can be as damaging to the human body as it is to the mind. In Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, this idea that war causes psychological disorders is represented throughout the book through the main character, Paul Baumer. This book follows the lives of young soldiers in World War I. Together, these men create powerful bonds. They go through terrifying experiences that continue to strengthen their bonds, but also destroy their mental state. Through Paul’s eyes, Remarque shows the devastation that war has on the mind.
One of the worst things about war is the severity of carnage that it bestows upon mankind. Men are killed by the millions in the worst ways imaginable. Bodies are blown apart, limbs are cracked and torn and flesh is melted away from the bone. Dying eyes watch as internal organs are spilled of empty cavities, naked torso are hung in trees and men are forced to run on stumps when their feet are blown off. Along with the horrific deaths that accompany war, the injuries often outnumber dead men. As Paul Baumer witnessed in the hospital, the injuries were terrifying and often led to death. His turmoil is expressed in the lines, “Day after day goes by with pain and fear, groans and death gurgles. Even the death room I no use anymore; it is too small.” The men who make it through the war take with them mental and physical scarification from their experiences.
Yin and Yang are the foundation of most of the Chinese’s beliefs, including traditional Chinese medicine. The Chinese view Yin and Yang as, “dynamic, interacting, and interdependent energies” (Lewis et.al, 2011). Yin and Yang cannot exist without each other, and each contains a piece of the other within itself (Lewis et.al, 2011). Yin and Yang are apart of everything in nature, and the Chinese believe that they must be kept in balance to maintain good health and wellbeing (Lewis et.al, 2011). It is also believed that any imbalance in Yin and Yang will result in illness, so traditional Chinese medicine works to restore the balance between the two energies (Lewis et.al, 2011). In Chinese culture, it is common for the elders and the men to make any decisions for the family, including healthcare decisions for the woman, so it is not unusual for the husband to make decisions and answer questions for his wife. Traditional Chinese medicine has many ...
The western and eastern hemispheres have very different approaches to health and medicine. In western hemisphere countries, such as the United States, medical practices are very scientific. Medicines and surgeries are common practices for the treatment of various ailments in western medical practices. Countries in the eastern hemisphere, such as China, are much more spiritual and energy based in their medicine. Many of Chinese medical practices have survived from ancient time because of their success. Unlike western medicine, Chinese medicine embodies the eastern hemispheres belief of strong connections between the mind and body. Both approaches to medicine have certain advances and limitations. The two approaches can even be used with one