Comparative Between Generals Die in Bed and All Quiet on the Western Front

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Soldiers adapt to the different criterions of war, to the point where the word death loses its emotional value. In the text, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, ceaselessly slaughtering people merely becomes a soldier’s duty. Paul says, “We have become wild beasts…we can destroy and kill to save ourselves.”(Remarque, 15) This shows that death no longer is considered a sensitive topic, in the soldiers’ views. Also, they don’t have any humane thoughts/feelings before assassinating someone because it becomes a part of their reflexive skills and therefore, requires no second thoughts or sensitive feelings. They seem to be indifferent to the fact that they have killed someone because assassination merely becomes their ‘job.’ In a similar manner, Generals Die in Bed by Charles Yale Harrison, is inclusive of the same insensitiveness and indifference towards the death and murdering of people. The narrator says, “I lunge forward aiming at his stomach. It is a lightening, instinctive move…I become insane…I want to strike again and again.”(Harrison, 26-27) Since this was an “instinctive” move, he didn’t even think over the fact that he is taking someone’s life nor have any humane feelings which prove that he has become inhumane towards a person’s life. In addition, a humane individual would experience feelings of regret and guilt, but instead he has the urge to stab him continuously. He becomes one of the negative byproducts of the war because it causes him to become “insane” and inconsiderate towards the sentimental values associated with death. In conclusion, both these texts share the common idea that war has the potential to make a person’ death seem to be not too big a deal and erase all the sentimental, emotional and humane feelings affiliated with

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