Effects Of Dehumanization In Generals Die In Bed And All Quiet On The Western Front

During the First World war, soldiers all around the world were met with a plethora of long-lasting injuries and challenges. The novels, Generals Die In Bed by Charles Yale Harrison and All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque portray the similar wartime experiences of Canadian and German soldiers. The historical concept of causation is shown throughout these novels, particularly in how the soldiers experienced extreme violence, which led to the desensitization to such violence and the dehumanization of their allies and enemies. Both Canadian and German soldiers were psychologically affected which was caused by the horrors of the war, highlighting the mental effects the war had on soldiers.

World War 1 was home to extreme violence, which soldiers had frequently met face to face during

This led to the soldiers being desensitized to the violence that surrounds them, leading to a sense of disconnection between themselves and their emotions. During one of their days in the trenches, Brown stands up to reach for a spoon when “At the crack of the sniper's rifle…Brown's body fell…We look without resentment towards the woods. We are animated only by a biting hunger for safety. Safety...”. The narrator shows a lack of response and does not experience any feelings of shock or grief, rather they are solely focused on their safety and survival. The lack of empathy and grief shows their numbing of emotions, which is further proven when the quote mentions “without resentment”. This suggests that the soldiers have been desensitized to the death and despair around them, so much so that they do not even feel any anger or resentment towards their enemy, who killed their comrade. This motif is also present in the novel All Quiet On The Western Front. As the soldiers are on their