The book “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque is a novel which although very profound and harrowing, depicts the story of a young German soldier, Paul Baumer, during World War I. The novel was written to reflect the horrific nature of war, and to illustrate some of the effects which it has on individuals who are embroiled in it. The novel illustrates the process of war through the eyes of a young man, who initially believes, along with his friends, that war is a glorious conflict however this viewpoint begins to change during the course of the novel. This paper has been written to provide a comprehensive critique of the book and to demonstrate an understanding of whether the writer succeeded in their aims, and it will also present a thesis about the book. The thesis which will be investigated and illustrated is how Paul Baumer is representative of the Lost Generation, and that his character development throughout the book reflects this change in attitudes towards war of the young men who went to fight in World War I.
Although both Homecoming and Weapons Training are based on an anti-war theme, Dawe writes about the different aspects that involve war such as death, weapons, lives lost, soldier’s, families and disrespect. He uses titles that have very strong meanings to people that have been involved in war such as homecoming which every soldier hopes to be able to come home to their families again and weapons training where they are taught to use weapons before the war to prepare to kill the enemy. His poem Homecoming about the Vietnam War; the title itself creates the image of a happy and joyful journey; however Dawe ironically uses this to describe the sadness and sorrow of the dead soldier’s journey as they are transported home back to their families. A soldier’s return from war is supposed to be heroic but these soldiers are treated with a lack of respect.Dawe tries to convey the message to the reader that war is futile and that lives are wasted at war. On the other hand the title of Weapons Training creates the idea that the soldier’s are being trained to use the military weapons although the theme suggests that the soldier’s are actually the so called weapons being trained.
This unspecified and detached account of this action and the death in general, shows the way in which the members of the platoon deal with the complexity of the war experience. So much so that O’Brien is able to turn the story of Curt Lemon to a love story. Many go into a war story expecting to hear about triumph, pride, courage, and sacrifice. However, O’Brien claims that a true war story will shatter all previous expectations of a war story and instead be about evil and more obscene things. O’Brien says, “A true war
Before the War, Paul was a creative, sensitive, and passionate person, writing poems and having a clear love for his family. But as the war changed his attitude and personality, poems and other things of his past life become something Paul could not remember having any link to, and he learns to disconnect himself from his feelings. When Paul arrives at the Western Front with his friends and schoolmates, (Tjaden, Muller, Kropp, and Kaczynsky), they have to engage in frequent battles and endure the dangerous and often the horrible and bad conditions of warfare. After all that, Paul and his friends have realize that the ideals of nationalism and patriotism that Kantorek was telling them is simply not true. They no longer believe that war is
English 124-Literary Essay October 19, 2011 “Dulce et Decorum Est” and “The Soldier” Although the poems “Dulce et Decorum Est “by Wilfred Owen, and “The Soldier” by Rupert Brooke, share the elements of writer passion and subjectivity, they differ with regards to tone, theme and literary devices. The lyrical poem, “The Soldier” was written during the period before the World War, and thus presents an unrealistic viewpoint of war. The speaker is simply regurgitating ideas and concepts about war instilled in him by his country England. The phrases, “England bore, shaped, made aware” and “the thoughts by England given” solidify this theory. It is evident that he has not physically engaged in warfare, nor has he observed the explicit nature of the battlefield because his focus remains on England, rather than the war itself.
A.P. English 11 May 27, 2014 What is a true war story? One that tells of death and gloom, or one that defends the peaceful front? The Things They Carried written by Tim O’Brien explains to the world of readers what a true war story is. O’Brien tells these stories with different tones depending on which recollection; it is light and hopeful during “Love” or dark and hopeless within “The Man I Killed.” To create these works he uses imagination and invention to describe the true difficulties of a true war story.
In another case, Paul is seen trying to save the life of an enemy that he has stabbed, he fails but his efforts shouldn’t be forgotten. His friends refer to him as a hero, and he neglects this title and all the medals. Paul doesn’t like war and what it represents, to him, war is the real evil. The government forcing people into war, without giving them a choice is evil War can easily turn any person into a hero. Corporal Himmelstoss was an average polite postman before being drafted into World War I, not soon after he became a bully.
The start of the poem (read first 3 lines) has quite a sarcastic tone and I think this shows how she feels towards the military glorifying war, doing whatever they can to convince you to join. As the poem progresses, Mikhail begins to mock the routine of war, (wakes the sirens…dispatches ambos…swings corpses through the air) therefore showing us the harmful effects of war. Today, I’ll be analysing the poem, The War Works Hard, by Dunya Mikhail. She’s an Iraqi-American poet who has been awarded the UN human rights award for freedom of writing. She has experienced war first hand and was forced to flee Iraq in 1996.
Owen could also be trying to convey a message about society’s voluntary ignorance during the war because the public sang anthems for the youths as they were heading to war knowing what fate intended to do with them. Owen is specific about the words he uses in this poem, as they are essential to getting the reader to sympathise with him. Firstly the use of the words “rattle and cattle” brings unpleasant feelings as they are hard sounding words which are intended to alert us and to keep us out of our safety zone. The word “rattle” can be associated with the rattle snake which incite fear and that’s exactly what Owen wants us to feel. On the other hand “cattle” does not bring fear or safety, the connotation of “cattle” is something that isn’t loved or cared for.
This is portrayed through WW1, in books such as Quite on the Western Front. “Dying for your country” is a shared saying through countries in war to reduce the sorrows of death. I believe this saying should be completely dismissed, families should realize what and whom there loved ones are dying for. Men should know the truth about war before getting involved. These soldiers can’t be truly fighting for there country when there country is a falsehood.