In the year 1914, a war started that would turn innocent people against each other, and have aftermaths that include thousands of people dead due to new equipment like tanks, gas attacks, and hand-to-hand combat. In this war there was a soldier named Paul Bäumer who is a German nineteen year old who has made friends that will last a lifetime during this experience, but has also felt immense pain. His daily routine is to sleep, eat, and fight in the trenches, and he experiences death every day. Most soldiers view death as a recurring event, but Paul views it as wretchedness, which makes him different from others by caring about his comrades more than others. Paul shows many qualities through this experience of being a soldier in the First World War, and he learns what is necessary in life, which takes some people years to figure out. In All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, Paul Bäumer participates in the bloodiest war of all time, and he develops the skills of intelligence, leadership, and loyalty. In …show more content…
Throughout the story Paul shows that he cares about his comrades by protecting them from the dangers of war, and he also displays that he will guide them in war. Paul uses his skills of intelligence to guide his team in the trenches and at the front, and he passes on his knowledge and tricks of war to the new recruits. Not many soldiers have all of these qualities, which makes Paul stand out more than his comrades. Even today some men don't express the passion and leadership Paul shows in All Quiet on the Western Front, which brings up the fact that the war needs more men like Paul. To sum up, Paul is an honest and true man who will always be there for his comrades when needed, and he is a man the troops are proud to say is a patriotic
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Show MoreConner Hansford Mr. Seymore Honors English 10 24 April 2017 Modernism in All Quiet on the Western Front Some may view Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front as a materialistic story, promoting this mentality through Paul Baumer and his comrades’ attitudes that stay consistent throughout the entirety of the book. This can be supported by how Paul focuses on unimportant things whenever other soldiers die such as in the start of the book, accurately portraying what is described in Virginia Woolf’s “Modern Fiction”.
When bombing or killing people in another trench, Paul barely comprehends the fact that he is taking another man’s life. This dramatically differs from the toll it takes on Paul “have killed with [his] hands, whom [he] can see close at hand, whose death is [his] doing” (221). Spending hours alongside this dead man, Paul begins to realize that all of the soldiers in this war are the same as him, so it isn’t unlikely that he will soon pass as well. It’s also the first instance Paul realizes the men he is fighting are also people, so if he makes it out of the war, he won’t have a life of his own and feels it is proper to replace the one he stole. Later, upon a discussion of this direct murder, Paul realizes death is just another ingredient in the disastrous recipe that is war.
World War I had millions of deaths but the soldiers did not want those deaths. The book All Quiet on The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is based around the outlook of a young soldier named Paul Baumer during World War I. The book shows all the ins and outs of what it was like as a soldier in World War I. Through the view of Paul we see an abundance of deaths. In AQotWF Erich Maria Remarque shows in war, one’s supposed enemy may not be one’s actual enemy--by using indirect characterization.
War is a very controversial thing, there are many reasons for joining. War tends to change people in the very end. “All Quiet On The Western Front” Is narrated by a man named Paul Bäumer. He is nineteen during the time of this war. Her fights for the german army, on the french front during WWI.
The war novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque depicts one protagonist, Paul, as he undergoes a psychological transformation. Paul plays a role as a soldier fighting in World War I. His experiences during the war are not episodes the average person would simply experience. Alternatively, his experiences allow him to develop into a more sophisticated individual. Remarque illustrates these metamorphic experiences to expose his theme of the loss of not only people’s lives but also innocence and tranquility that occurs in war.
Stanislaus Katczinsky is characterized as the leader of the group in All Quiet on the Western Front. However his group did not survive the war, Katczinsky was able to provide the soldiers with a sense of comfort and warmth which aid them through their journey on the front further on. He is a leader in every way being “shrewd, cunning, and hard-bitten, forty years of age… and [has] a remarkable nose for dirty weather, good food, and soft jobs” (Remarque 4). Katczinsky is more than qualified to be the leader of the group because of the wisdom that he brings due to his age but also the incredible abilities he possesses that help the boys on their harsh experience on the front. However he is a leader and an authority figure to the boys, he is not
I am going to be talking about a boy named joby whom just have entered the army by force. And of course because of his age he’s the heart of the army and not just because he’s the drummer boy. The authour of the story is ray bradbury and the story is called the drummer boy of shiloh. The boy joby feels lonley alot becasue he’s with alot of grown men who which he does not know any of them but the general who he encounters a conversation with. He soon will meet his destiny in war as he realizes he is the heart of the soldiers just like he was told an soon very soon will be leading them.
Erich Maria Remarque was a man who had lived through the terrors of war, serving since he was eighteen. His first-hand experience shines through the text in his famous war novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, which tells the life of young Paul Bäumer as he serves during World War 1. The book was, and still is, praised to be universal. The blatant show of brutality, and the characters’ questioning of politics and their own self often reaches into the hearts of the readers, regardless of who or where they are. Brutality and images of war are abundant in this book, giving the story a feeling of reality.
At the end Paul realizes that everything flashes before his eyes after all his friends had died,” I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how people are set against one another…” (Remarque, 263). The main character, Paul reaches the point where he understands that he has no knowledge of the meaning of life. This quote gives a better understanding of the factors of the war, death and fear and the role they play for the comrades. We are reminded the short amount of time most soldier survive, in Paul’s company the initial number of soldiers was one hundred eighty,” Second Company—with difficulty a line, a short line trudges off into the morning.
Erich Maria Remarque’s novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, follows the life of a German Soldier, Paul Baumer, serving in the trenches in France during World War I. This novel is told from Baumer’s perspective and depicts the horrors of living in his shoes during this time. Paul and several other young soldiers volunteered for the war after their instructor in school, Kantorek and other authority figures back home filled their heads with glorious ideas about the war. Very quickly, he discovers the reality- gas attacks, fatal illness, starvation, rat infestations, and bloody trenches. This dehumanizing war affects Paul and the soldiers who fought in it by destroying their physical and emotional well being, changing their views on the meaning of life and death, obliterating their sense of nationalism by betrayal, and
War is a harsh reality that is inflicted upon the unwilling through the “need” of it’s predecessors and those whom wish it. All Quiet on The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is about 19 year old Paul and his friends in the “Second Company”. Even though they are just out of school age, they have already seen things that many could not bear to even think about. Eventually, all of his friends die, and even Paul too, dies. Remarque uses diction and syntax as literary devices to express his anti-war theme, or lesson.
Throughout the ages, wars have wreaked havoc and caused great destruction that lead to the loss of millions of lives. However, wars also have an immensely destructive effect on the individual soldier. In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front written by Erich Maria Remarque, one is able to see exactly to what extent soldiers suffered during World War 1 as well as the effect that war had on them. In this essay I will explain the effect that war has on young soldiers by referring to the loss of innocence of young soldiers, the disillusionment of the soldiers and the debasement of soldiers to animalistic men. Many soldiers entered World War 1 as innocent young boys, but as they experienced the full effect of the war they consequently lost their innocence.
A character in the book “All quiet on the Western Front.” A teenager aged 18-19 years old who was sent to war as such a young age who wasn 't mentally or physically prepared for war. Throughout the book I have consider Paul Baumer as a definition of humanity. He always put all his friends or his war family when he was alive from simply being compassionate and always putting himself first for
The book All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque gives us a good understanding of what war was like for the people fighting on the front. When reading this book people can get a front hand experience of what it is like being in battle. Remarque wrote this book so well that often times you picture yourself actually with Paul and all his friends. The one thing you specifically get to see is how humanity affects warfare. Humanity affects our decisions in warfare because humans are selfish, have fear, and seek revenge.
As Winston Churchill states: “You ask: what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, no matter how long and hard the world may be; for, without victory, there is no survival.” This quote applies to times of war because in a war in order to try to achieve victories many countries are willing to sacrifice and go to the extremes. In All Quiet on the Western Front, the German army sacrificed millions in order to attempt to win World War One. However what they sacrificed is appalling.