How War Effects Negatively

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Honors English 10, Period 7 How war effects negatively War is the bittersweet symphony in which people both gain and lose at the same time. World War I was fought from 1914-1918 and was called the war to end all wars. Unlike wars before it, World War I did not use traditional, organized attacks. Each side dug a series of trenches from the Swiss border all the way to the Belgian coast. Trench warfare is the basis behind All Quiet on the Western Front. This novel was published in 1929 by Erich Maria Remarque. Remarque himself fought in World War I, and based some of his experiences in the book. After the rise of the Nazi regime, All Quiet on the Western Front, was one of the first books they burned because it was a betrayal to the soldiers who fought in World War I. One reason could have been the way the negative effects of war show through the use of Irony, Symbolism, and Metaphors. To introduce, Remarque uses irony to show the theme of the negative effects of war. To illustrate, Paul and his friends get extra rations. This is ironic because the only reason they get these extra rations of food and cigarettes because a lot of others soldiers just died up at the front. Instead of mourning for their fellow soldiers, they just try to get more food. Soldiers tell the others, “…There is a double ration of sausage and bread” (1). This shows the war affecting the soldiers negatively because they just don’t care about the deaths. In addition, Paul’s leave showed the use of irony. When he is fighting on the front all he wants to do is go home, but when he gets home, all he wants to do is go back to the fighting. Paul ponders, “I find I do not belong here anymore, it is a foreign world” (149). This shows the use of irony because he now thinks the war is his home and that’s where he wants to be. That’s all he knows is fighting. Finally, Paul’s death at the end of the book
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