6. INTRODUCTION: All is Quiet on the Western Front begins with Paul Bäumer's company at rest, five miles behind the front lines between Langemark and Bixschoote. They have had very little sleep for the fourteen days since they relieved the front line and seventy of their one hundred and fifty men are dead at the hands of Russian gunfire. The cook, Ginger, has fixed rations for the one hundred and fifty and, after arguing with the lieutenant, grudgingly consents to give all the food to the eighty soldiers left, including double rations of smokes. As the narrator remarks, "Today is wonderfully good."…
The horrors of World War I had many effects on the expendable soldiers and left them feeling traumatized, alienated, desensitized, and physically damaged.…
“The front is a cage in which we must await fearfully whatever may happen” said Paul in All Quiet On the Western Front. In this book friends from college are recruited to the army to fight for their country in the Great War. The boys were full of pride until they got to the front and were conquered by fear. The front wasn’t what they expected; everything that was done was for nothing but survival. Like any war the war came to an end but not all the college classmates/friends survived, and many of them didn’t get the chance to visit their families. This was a good book due to its tone, theme, point of view, and plot.…
Throughout Erich Maria Remarque’s novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, vivid images of gruesome animal instincts and the innocent animals’ lives ending are illustrated for the reader repeatedly. Remarque indicates that for a soldier’s survival in battle they must cease sanity and rely solely on primitive instinct. This notion of animal instincts leads soldiers to be less like a human being with rational thoughts. The protagonist, Paul Bäumer, believes he is a “human animal,” and similarly, soldiers who survive multiple attacks think the same. Battle has wounded many, and throughout the novel the reader is given a chance…
In a time period filled with war and conflict, the novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is a difficult read due to the heavy topic it pertains to. The story begins with Paul Bӓumer and his friends from school joining the army. They joined because they thought war would be honorable thanks to Kantorek, their teacher. After their ten weeks of training and their first two weeks of being on the front lines, only eighty of the one hundred fifty men return. Paul’s friend, Franz Kemmerich, has his leg amputated and he eventually dies because of it. At this point, Paul learns to disconnect his feelings from himself. Reinforcements come for their company and they are sent on a mission to place barbed wire on the front lines.…
In the story All Quiet On The Western Front, the author Erich Maria Remarque uses the motif of blood and death to display a theme of withering innocence, and how soldiers had to witness horrible events through humanity’s downfall. Erich uses animals to show crude human nature, the story describes to us how “the belly of one horse is ripped open, the guts trail out. He becomes tangled in them and falls, then he stands up again” (63 Remarque). This passage of gruesome death shows decaying innocence by humans forcing innocent creatures of the land, to fight for their own selfish needs and ways. Throughout the story, Paul is thrown again and again into life or death situations, “I grab for my gas-mask.…
families. Each item was a symbol of their past what they were like before the war. Their innocence and…
I believe that “Passchendaele” was a better film than “All Quiet on the Western Front.” I think this because, Passchendaele had a more enticing and more interesting story, Passchendaele was visually more appealing, and Passchendaele was told from the Canadian side. All these reasons are why I believe that “Passchendaele” was a better film.…
Throughout the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, the author Erich Maria Remarque, explores the effects of war through both literary and structural techniques. Remarque himself being involved in the war, writes from the perspective of young German soldiers who were on duty during the World War One campaign. Using various literary techniques, Remarque is able to convey the effects of war through the destruction of natural imagery, the displacement experienced by the soldiers as well as the loss of identity which eventually affects the soldiers the soldiers.…
The protagonist of the All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul Baumer, says, "I believe we are lost" (Remarque 123). The soldiers themselves recognize that they are part of a lost generation. They are, "forlorn like children, and experienced like old men" (123). Lost Generation is revealed in All Quiet on the Western Front through the young soldiers loss of innocence, loss of life, and loss of home. The First World War has no positive effect on the lives of the young soldiers.…
"Won't you leave them with us?" Müller repeats. Kemmerich doesn't want to. They are his most prized possessions” (16). Kemmerich's Airman Boots were a important symbol in the novel even though Kemmerich's leg was amputated he did not want to leave them behind. The boots symbolized death and every time a comrade lost a close friend in battle they still wanted the boots. “Food” and “cigarettes” are a big motif in Remarque's novel and plays a significant role in wartime all around the world and in all time periods “Next time you come with your mess-tin have a cigar or a chew of tobacco in your other hand. Get me? (36)”. Katczinsky ask for cigars in return for the food that he gave to the new recruits. Cigarettes and food represents friendship and trust because food is scarce in the war and is needed by all soldiers. Symbols are a thing that represents or stands for something else. Motifs are similar to symbols except motifs recurs continuously throughout the novel.…
“That day was the first time I took a life. It troubled me for weeks afterward, until I realized I would go mad if I continued to dwell upon it. Many do, and they become so grief-ridden. They can no longer be relied upon, or their hearts turn to stone and they lose the ability to distinguish right from wrong” (193). This quote was made by the elf Arya while she was consoling Eragon on feeling guilty about all the enemies he had killed. This quote was said when Eragon and Arya were traveling back to the Varden and just after the pair had escaped from a group of Galbatorix’s soldiers, but unfortunately they had to kill all of the soldiers so their whereabouts would not be discovered. This passage stands out because it has a deeper meaning than many of the other things…
In the first chapter of the book, O'Brien discusses the physical items the men carry with them. In addition to the expected gear of war the men also carried a unique blend of assorted items. Most of these items served as some sort of escape from the war. For instance, Lieutenant Cross carried with him reminders of a girl he loved named Martha.…
In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien discusses the tangible and intangible items that the soldiers carry with them daily. While some of these items are the necessities of war, such as ammunition, riffles, and rations, they also carry items along the war front that signify a remembrance of their home front. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, for example, various reminders of his love of Martha, a woman from back home. He carries letters she wrote to him in his backpack, along with a good luck pebble that she sends him in his mouth. Henry Dobbin, another soldier, he carries his girlfriend’s pantyhose around his neck. These objects that the soldiers carry serve to…
The war boots was Kemmerich’s the boot was pass down to soldiers to soldier and Paul brings them to Müller after Kemmerich dies and inherits them himself when Müller is shot to death later in the novel. Paul was the last one to received the boots. Paul died with the boots on his feet and was the last one to have them. He promised to give Tjaden the boots but it was too late. “Müller gives Paul his pocket-book and his boots—the very same boots that once belonged to Kemmerich. Paul promises that once he dies, the boots will be passed to Tjaden”.…