Not My War

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Recommended: Short note on war poetry

Both the novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, and the poem "The Man he Killed" by Thomas Hardy discuss war. Through both the novel and the poem, it is articulated how the soldiers personally feel about the war and their experiences during the war. The protagonist of the novel, Paul Baumer, and the speaker of the poem both share comparable emotions. Both enroll in the war for reasons other than patriotism, their perception towards war is very analogous, they kill their enemy merely to stay alive and they go to the extent of feeling that if not for the war, they could have been friends with their "enemies".
Paul and Hardy’s speaker were inclined to enlist in the war and both joined not realizing the hardships of the war. Paul had heard many motivational speeches from his schoolteacher, Kantorek, about patriotism, which influenced him to enroll in the war. Paul explains how hard Kantorek was pushing the boys into enlisting, "During drill-time Kantorek gave us long lectures until the whole of our class went under his shepherding, to the district commandant and volunteered," (Remarque 11). With the speeches that Kantorek gave, Paul and his friends felt a sense of patriotism and duty to enlist; he also realizes how vile the war is because of all the hardships faced. Hardy’s speaker abruptly decided to join the war because he didn’t have anything else better to do out of work, he says "He thought he'd 'list, perhaps, Off-hand like-just as I- Was out of work- had sold his traps - No other reason why,” (Hardy 13-16). Although Paul felt a sense of patriotism at the beginning, what he felt wasn’t national pride it was just Kantorek drilling into their minds that war is a noble thing to do, but Kantorek never expla...

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... if they weren’t in war, on conflicting sides, they could have been good friends.
In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front and the poem "The Man He Killed," the main two characters have similar thoughts and emotions towards war, they both enroll in war for reasons other than patriotism and they also feel that under different situations, their enemies could have been their friends. If both the characters really felt the reason or need to be in the war, their experiences would have been positively different. Through the characters, it is portrayed that patriotism can be expressed mainly through war, but there are other numerous ways to show your love for the country.

Works Cited

Hardy, Thomas. “The Man He Killed.” Ed. 25 Aug 2003. 05 Jan. 2014
Remarque, Erich Maria. All Quiet On the Western Front. 1st Ballantine Books Ed. New York: Ballantine Books, 1982.

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