The novel shoes the misery of war and the everlasting effects it has on the soldiers; even Baumer cannot escape those circumstances. Before the war Baumer was a nice, empathetic, and gentle person but the war has him almost disconnected from his feelings. He becomes numb to the evil surrounding him. His friends are quickly lost to the cruelty and horror of war. Some died a quick death while others died a slow, painful death, showing the reality of war.
In All Quiet on the Western Front, the main character Paul has seen death everywhere, including some of his close friends. When visiting his friend Kimmerich in the hospital, he sees those dying from inhaling poisonous gas, missing limbs, or who are permanently disfigured by war. The soldier’s injuries had maimed them and left them unable to live a normal life in some circumstances. Therefore, through seeing this death, and witnessing close 3 friends die, the patriotism that soldiers are supposed to feel toward his country becomes diminished throughout the course of the war. After witnessing men die in horrific ways as well as those who were then unable to enjoy life because of their disfigurement caused by the war, Paul realizes that the deaths of these soldiers were nowhere close to glorious or brave as many depicted it to be.
Kantorek often calls them the iron youth because he describes their efforts as brave and heroic. As a member of the Second Company, Paul has doubts in his choices when his classmate Joesph Behm is one of the first to die when enlisted in war. To make matters worst, Paul’s friend Kemmerich loses his leg and has a slow and painful death. Paul then has the burden of telling Kemmerich’s mom of her son’s death, especially when she confides in him to watch over her son during the war. As the war continues, the leader of the Second Company Himmelstoss is disliked by many of the soldiers because of his harsh tactics and insensible actions.
Wade Berrigan 5-26-07 The Moral Ambiguity of War In the novel Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Meyers, shows us many examples of soldiers struggling between making morale choices or staying alive. New soldiers look at other soldiers who have been in the war for a while as if they are sick soulless creatures killing everything in their way. Later we find these same characters that are doing the questioning doing the same thing. For example Perry wonders to himself how someone can die in front of them and no one remember it the following day. This shows his morals are still intact.
Only certain men are able to live through the filthy conditions of the hospital. Several are too weak and die from infection. Social Darwinism is everywhere, survival of the fittest. Towards the end of the movie, young soldier Paul Baumer, must go back to tell his best friend’s mother that her child is dead. However, he can’t bear to tell her the truth of her son’s awful, painful death.
‘All quiet on the western front’ shows readers that the war is not about terrorism; rather it is about chance, terror and losing all human dignity and values. To what extent do you agree? The novel ‘All quiet on the western front’ helps us to understand the actual reality of war, and exactly what these young soldiers had to go through. The book explains the war in the actual truth of how it happened, it does not glamorise it but shows the courage, heroism and the loss of human dignity. Terror and fear are the main emotions expressed in this book.
I think it is really sad. He has faced death, but he never gives up in the toughest of times. I think the death of this son hit him the worst out of all three of the deaths. In the book he really don’t talk about much because, he get real emotional about it and he’s not the person to talk about his personal life. There are a lot of happy things in the book, too.
Families would fall apart. Once infected with the plague you were on your own, no matter if you were just a young boy or an old woman. People did not want to help because they were scared for their own lives. There was no such thing as friends anymore, only the dead and the living. There were no more families, neighbors, or married couples.
All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel dictating a view of World War I from the German’s side. Paul Baumer was the original narrator until the final page in which he passes. Before his passing the book showed a detailed account of his psychological hardships. The book shows these hardships in many ways, but the three that stood out to me were his time at the front, dealing with the new recruitments, and the many deaths of the soldiers. In all actuality “the front” seemed to be the most difficult for Paul to endure, it brought about several pains that burdened his mind and changed his outlook on life.
Little did they know Kemmerich’s death marked the beginning of lost hope. Paul becomes faint, all at once and he could not do anything more. This is expressed by Erich Maria Remarque on page 31 of the novel. This is the response Paul displays over the news of his fellow country men’s death. Paul’s display of grief is emotionally charged, but much different than his first display of his feelings on the war where everyone was full of pride and arrogance.