Who Is The Antagonist In All Quiet On The Western Front

Group 1 Johann Gottfried von Herder and Ernest Renan both tried to give a definition to a notion of a nation, and the ways they used to do so were, seemingly, similar. First, they both incorporate the idea of nature and its barriers and unifications – mountains and rivers – in their works; however, each of them proves different points. Herder argues that “if otherwise mountains had arisen, rivers flowed, or coasts trended, then how very different would mankind have scattered over this tilting place of nations” meaning that he believes that nature and the planet surface is one of the main reasons so many distinguishable nations exist (Herder 2). Renan, on the other hand, believes that geography, although important, is not an absolute reason
Paul Baumer is one of the many young men who share this fate. Throughout the novel, he expresses his disillusionment with the ordinary life on numerous occasions: he does not feel home at the house of his family, his civilian clothes “feel[s] awkward”, and, overall, he thinks that people who have not been through war cannot understand him (Remarque 164). He is longing for home and his ordinary life; however “a sense of strangeness will not leave [him], [he] cannot feel at home among these things”, he thinks that there is “a veil, between” him, his sister, and his mother. The reason for that is not that they stopped loving each other after he went to the war; the reason is that despite the fact that they love him and sympathize with him, they cannot understand the reality of the war (Remarque 160). Other people want to hear about his and German army exploits and treat him as props who is at war to bring glory to the nation. They speak convincing words about glory, fame, and progress, and youth like Paul believes them, at first; however, after they see their friends dying and other terrors that war brings it all loses its meaning. Paul admits that sometimes he is jealous of people who just live their civilian lives; however, on
As other surrealistic paintings, “The Persistence of Memory” challenges the notion of reality. The world depicted in the picture is definitely not the reality familiar to people, but it is rather a dream that a person might have. The painting combines solid objects with melting clocks, and it can leave viewers wondering whether clocks are clearly unreal or, giving the situation, if solid objects are, in fact, more likely to be unreal. Thus, Dali in “The Persistence of Memory” questions the very concept of reality and embraces the higher reality. Besides, the painting reflects an expression of an unconscious truth. This truth is represented by the clocks. They are soft and it seems that they are melting off the solid objects; therefore, it can represent the relativity of time. In the reality, people seem to learn to control time: with clocks, dates, years, hours, and minutes. Moreover, time is a very important concept in the reality because everything that happens can be assigned a specific time period. However, in Dali’s understanding, time is relative, thus, surreal. Accordingly, it may be argued that Dali has reached the individual