All Quiet on the Western Front

All Quiet on the Western Front – A Book Review

Professor's Comments: This is a good example of a book review typically required in history classes. It is unbiased and thoughtful. The Student explains
the book and the time in which it was written in great detail, without retelling the entire story... a pitfall that many first time reviewers may experience.
All Quiet on the Western Front is the story of Paul Baumer's service as a soldier in the German army during World War I. Paul and his classmates enlist
together, share experiences together, grow together, share disillusionment over the loss of their youth, and the friends even experience the horrors of
death–– together. Though the book is a novel, it gives the reader...show more content...
The story is as relevant today as it was when published in 1929 because it is the story of more than war; it is the story of humanity. The book begins
with the death of Paul's friend. The men have, by this time, become almost desensitized to death. Kemmerich (the dying friend) owns a fine pair of
English airman's boots. It is a forgone conclusion that Kemmerich will no longer require them. It is not petty greed, but pragmatism, which drives
Muller's desire to have the boots. The troops' own equipment is ragged and worn, making anything in serviceable condition an improvement on what
they have. As we find out in the story, not only are the soldiers' boots worn out, but the artillery of the German army is also worn out. This may
symbolize that not only are the soldiers and equipment at the front worn out, but so is Germany as a whole. Germany was worn out and had no idea
what was going to happen, just as the soldiers had no idea where the artillery shells would land.

Paul reminisces about his days in school and how he and his friends believed the indoctrination they had received from their schoolmaster. However,
after experiencing war, Paul questions the fervent nationalism of the Germans. What has nationalism done for Germany other than destroy the country?
In blindly following the words of his elders, Paul has achieved nothing except to become an old man at the age of twenty. Not only does Paul now
question his schoolmaster's reasoning, but he also

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 Essay on All Quiet On The Western Front

Chapter 1
The chapter begins with German soldiers at rest after fourteen days of fierce battle on the Western Front. A double ration of food has been prepared so
the soldiers are eating their fill. Paul Baumer, the protagonist and narrator of the novel, watches in amazement as his friends, Tjaden and Muller, eat
another helping; he wonders where Tjaden puts all the food, for he is as thin as a rail. Baumer is only nineteen years of age. He enlisted in the German
infantry because Kantorek, his high school teacher, had glorified war and talked him into fighting for the fatherland. Kropp, Behm, and Leer, former
classmates of Baumer, were also persuaded by Kantorek to join the infantry. They are all now fellow soldiers along with Tjaden,...show more content...
In spite of the pain, Kemmerich frets that his watch has been stolen by someone in the medical facility. His friends try to comfort him. Muller,
however, has his eyes on Kemmerich's leather boots and tries to persuade Kemmerich to give them to him. Being the practical and logical one of the
group, Muller feels that Kemmerich no longer has use for a matched pair. He also knows that one of the orderlies in the hospital will steal the boots,
just as the watch was stolen. Moral decadence is obviously a by–product of the war.

Notes
It is obvious from the opening chapter that this novel will center on the war and the effects it has on a young group of soldiers, none of them more
than twenty years of age. They are all friends and former classmates of Paul Baumer, the narrator and protagonist of the book; they have enlisted in the
German infantry because their teacher, Kantorek, had painted for them a glorious picture of fighting and saving the homeland from destruction during
World War I. In this first chapter, Baumer and his friends are away from the front lines, relaxing a bit after two weeks of fierce fighting. As each of the
young men is introduced, it is apparent that they are tired, hungry, angry, and disillusioned over the war.

The young soldiers are miserable over their plight and cast blame on Kantorek. All of them have been in the midst of battle on the Western Front and
have seen the horror and

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 Arguments In All Quiet On The Western Front

Remarque is successfully creating an anti–war argument in the book, All Quiet on the Western Front.

Remarque uses imagery to show the struggles and hardships the soldiers had to go through to help prove that those problems make the war not
worth it for him. Remarque first expresses that him and his men are "emancipated and starved", he is trying to show that they do not have energy
left yet because the food "is all bad and mixed up with so much subsitute stuff", which will make them ill so they can hardly eat anymore(Remarque
280). This adds to the anti war argument a lot by showing that the soldiers are being deprived of food and sleep, while still having to fight for their
lives in a war they are clearly losing. This makes the reader understand how truly dangerous all of it becomes when all of these problems add
together. The reader is able to imagine trying to do something so strenuous with such little food and sleep. It is terrible to think about someone having
to such a thing. Remarque moves on to explain time during battle after which he describes as ВЁattack after attackВЁ, it even follows the men along
the "retreating crumbling line"(Remarque 282). This shows that him and his men are losing, and explains that even as they are trying to leave the
battlefield they are being attacked and it feels like never–ending attack. At this point, readers can imagine the exhaustion the men are feeling and can
see in their mind the few men still left running for their lives and

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The global conflict that arose in the beginning of the 20th century, World War I, became one of the darkest events that transpired in human history.
The First World War or known by many as the Great War, was seen by many as horrendous and appalling and it inspired many writers and painters to
document the experience. One of those soured by the war effort was novelist Erich Maria Remarque, and his novel All Quiet on the Western Front
captured his anti–war position on the conflict. His novel details the life of Paul Baumer, a young German soldier who fights on the front lines with his
fellow young comrades and explains the hardships of fighting in a war he no longer understands. Remarque describes the challenges that the men face,
from the trench warfare to the older generation not understanding what these men go through for just a small piece of land. Throughout the entire
novel, the themes may change of significance from chapter to chapter but overall Remarque maintains an anti–war theme. Overall, Remarque wrote
this book to show how truly horrendous this war was, provide a real life view of the war contrasting what the average German believed, and the
average reader would lose a novel that told the story of a generation lost to war. Remarque wrote All Quiet on the Western Front because of his strong
opposition to the war effort; He did not believe that fighting in the Great War was something glorious but rather something that was completely
unnecessary. Immediately after

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 All Quiet On The Western Front Response Essay

Nicolette DiCosola
Dr. Buck
History 106
13 April 2016
All Quiet On The Western Front I really enjoyed reading All Quiet On The Western Front. This book started off showing the young men ready to take
on war, until the first bombing in the trenches takes place. I found this book to be heart breaking, but it doesn't veer to far from the truth. WWI is
described very vividly throughout this piece. In this piece you really understand first of all, how these young men loose that innocence to war in all
reality. These young men some number of 200,000 of them under the age of 18 lost their childhood. It's absolutely nothing like the luxurious life I live
today. These soldiers are frequently subjects to physical danger. Life suddenly becomes serious...show more content...
They constantly have to be alert to any physical dangers. These soldiers also lived in horribly unsanitary conditions. No mom to clean the house,
or even time for that matter. They do not have the luxury of nice home cooked meals, and even clean clothes for that matter. The war basically
desensitizes these men, they have to see tons of deaths of close friends, and watch them die in such a brutal fashion. I believe the author of this
book really wanted to portray specifically that these soldiers really had to disconnect their emotions. In The book right in the beginning When
Kemmerich is dying, the question is no longer what can we do to help him, it is about who will get to take his boots. No one who lives a civilian
life is worried about taking their friends belongings after they pass away. You also see how lost the narrator Paul of the book feels as he returns to
his home, he feels very out of place. Again, loosing innocence. In the book it states he walked in his bedroom, and the books he used to love now
seem juvenile. Survival on the Front was pushed at the beginning by these soldiers patriotism, which was pushed on them by the common people.
These soldiers soon realized on the front that

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 All Quiet on the Western Front

The greatest war novel of all time, All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, is a novel that depicted the hardships of a group of
teenagers who enlisted in the German Army during World War 1. Enlisting right out of high school forced the teens to experience things they had
never thought of. From the life of a soilder on the front line to troubles with home life, war had managed to once again destroy a group of teenagers.

Throughout the novel, we saw the men of the Second Company adapt to the harsh conditions of war and fighting on the front line. The first instance
was the men going to relieve the front line. It had been fairly quiet for them, so the quartermaster requisitioned the normal amount of rations for an
entire...show more content...
Paul explains that every man is intimately acquainted with their stomach and intestines. Being that they all had the same parts there was no need to be
embarrassed. In addition to the effects of battling on the front line, the teens were affected by the thoughts of their home lives.

Considering the boys were only eighteen when they enlisted in the army they did not have a chance to experience life after high school. They had been
cut off from life just as they were beginning to live it. Paul remembers that as a high school student, he wrote poetry. He now has no interest in, or
time for, poetry, and his parents seem to him a cloudy and unreliable memory. Reminiscing about his home life upset him. Paul soon learned that
he would receive a leave of seventeen days; fourteen days leave and three days for traveling. Paul also learns that he will not return to the front
immediately after he is done with leave but to a camp for a training course. After Paul learns of his leave he says farewell to his fellow comrades.
He begins to worry about if the men he has grown so fond of will still be there. Despite all of this Paul packs up and heads to the train station to
leave for home. As the train approaches his hometown all the memories come flooding back to him. When Paul finally got to his parents house he
realized his life will never be

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 All Quiet On The Western Front Critical Analysis

In All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, Paul, the protagonist has to live through World War I. He joins the military at 19 years
old, and from the start, he has to endure immense pain. Paul, along with 6 other friends that he met in basic training, goes through basic training, and
eventually have to fight on the war front. Paul has mental predicaments throughout the book, all due to him being in the war. The recurring pattern in
these problems is that he is becoming inhuman. Paul pictures himself more as a machine since he entered the war. Paul's mental state changes from
when he enlisted, which raises the question, 'To what extent is engaging in conflict worthwhile?'. From reading the book, the answer is that In All Quiet
on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, a conflict is worthwhile depends on the person's situation before and how they've changed afterward.

Paul, early on in the book, realizes that war is nothing that he could've prepared for. Although it doesn't mention how he initially thought of war, there
is an obvious change in how he thinks of war. His change happens during and after Kemmerich's death. Paul sees first–hand how war's effects do not
justify the means. To give context about this, Kemmerich was one of Paul's friends that he met through basic training. When Kemmerich goes to the
war front, he gets shot and has to have his leg amputated. The amputation leaves Kemmerich weak and without a will to live. Paul tries to lift his

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 All Quiet On The Western Front Essay

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and Paths of Glory (1957)

Stanley Kubrick directed the movie, Paths of Glory. All Quiet on the Western Front is both a novel, and a movie. The novel is written by Erich
Maria Remarque, and the movie was directed by Lewis Milestone. Both Paths of Glory and All Quiet on the Western Front depict "The Great War",
also known as "First World War" or "World War I." The Great War originated in Europe, it was a Global War that lasted from July 28 1914 up until
November 11 1918. involved all the world's economic great powers, which had all assembled into two opposing alliances. The Allies, which were
based on the Triple Entente of the British Empire, France, and the Russian Empire, and the Central Powers which were composed of Germany, and
Austria– Hungary. These alliances reorganized and expanded as more nations entered the war. Italy, Japan, and the United States joined the Allies,
while the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria joined the Central powers. Both sides of this war were fighting from the trenches, hardly making any
progress at all unless one side became brave enough to venture forward and out of the trenches in attempt attack the enemy. The movie Paths of
Glory, and All Quiet on the Western Front are both realistic representations of the life for soldiers during this war. However, these two movies differ
slightly in the way that the story of "The Great War" is told. These two movies are told from opposing sides. Paths of Glory is told

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 All Quiet on the Western Front

The book All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, is about a group of 19 year old young men who are changed by the ways of
war. There is paul: the main character; Tjaden: a tall, skinny locksmith, also the biggest eater; Albert Kropp: a lance–corporal and the clearest thinker;
Muller: studious, intelligent, and likes school; Leer: has a preference for the girls from the prostitution houses and has a beard; Haie Westhus: a
peat–digger, and big in size; Deterring: a peasant, he always thinks of his farm and his wife; Stanislaus Katczinsky: He is 40 years old, cunning and
the leader of the group. Each of the boys experience a variety of struggle because of the war. Remarque uses the views of the characters to argue his
opinion patriotism, honor, war and bravery.
All Quiet on the Western Front argues many thoughts on war, patriotism being one of them. From reading All Quiet on the Western Front, you can
see that Remarque is not fond of war. He uses the experiences of his characters to let every reader know the consequences of patriotism. Patriotism is
not necessarily a bad thing but it is thrown on young men as the sine qua non of life. Kantorek, the schoolteacher of the boys, persuaded Paul and his
friends to join the war. In the book, Paul has bitter feelings toward Kantorek because he feels tricked and deceived into the war. In the book it says,
"The idea of authority, which they represented, was associated in our minds with a greater insight and a more

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 All Quiet On The Western Front Essay examples

The introductory paragraph of All Quiet on the Western Front states that the book's purpose is "neither to be an accusation nor a confession."
Remarque never actually says that the book is not to condemn. In fact, that is exactly what All Quiet is––a condemnation. It is quite true that Remarque
never accuses either side or makes any confession, but he does in fact condemn war altogether. In a critical response to All Quiet,
Modris Eksteins says that "All Quiet was not a book about the events of the war––it was not a memoir––but an angry postwar statement about the
effects of the war on the young generation that lived through it," (Eksteins 336). Eksteins is correct in saying this because an "angry postwar
statement" is in essence a...show more content...
But young? Youth? That is long ago. We are old folk." From the start of the war, these young men were robbed of their idealism, and already their
ideas of the future and their places in it became distorted. For older men it was different because for them it was "but an interruption. They [were]
able to think beyond it. We [the young soldiers], however, have been gripped by it and do not know what the end may be. We know only that in some
strange and melancholy way we have become a wasteland," (20).
As the novel progresses, the reader sees the "Iron Youth" become more and more disillusioned, and one by one the reader sees the "Iron Youth" go out
of existence.
Eksteins critical article quotes Remarque in 1928. He says, "The war...had shattered the possibility of pursuing what society would consider a normal
existence," (Eksteins 337). As
Paul drifts further and further from that "normal existence," Remarque gives the reader glimpses of Paul trying to reach out and re–embrace his old
thoughts and emotions and reconnect with the society he once knew. For example, Remarque shows Paul's descent from his previous "normal
existence" in chapter six. Paul says, "We have become wild beasts. We do not fight, we defend ourselves against annihilation," (113). This just shows
what the young men are becoming. Then, in an attempt to regain himself when he goes home, Paul sits in his room and tries to recapture the

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In Erich Maria Remarque's novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, human nature is the only abstract periphery between belligerent barbarism and
justifiable violence. Through the insipid bombardments that rained shells over the Germans' heads and noxious implementation of mustard gas,
Remarque dexterously misleads the reader into believing that he fights in an apathetic war where all remnants of human nature and identity have been
destroyed with the introduction of trench warfare. Through Paul Baumer's eyes, Remarque identifies war as an artificial construct devoid of human
identity and any subsequent emotions until the first bombardment, the first glimpse Baumer has of the unfettered abominations of war. After the
shrieking of artillery shells ceased, it was replaced by the numbing scream of injured horses. Paul described this abhorrent noise as "the moaning of the
world..., wild with anguish, filled with terror, and groaning" (Remarque 62), the first emotionally provocative scene in the novel. As if the description
of the noise did not suffice to pique the reader, Remarque continues, "The belly of one is ripped open, the guts trail out. He becomes tangled in them
and falls..." (Remarque 63). At this instant, Remarque sheds the obscure layer of superficiality and reveals the tatters of human nature and identity still
exist even in most anguish conditions of comeradeship, sympathy, contrition, and selflessness. As the war worsens, Baumer and his colleagues gradually

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 Essay Writing: All Quiet On The Western Front

The air was cold and crisp as I lay perched on a hill on a farm. Silence was the only company I had as I waited patiently for the task force team to arrive.
We were assaulting a small French village a few miles west of Paris , I required to gather and retrieve intel as reports have claimed that the Germans
were using this town as a supply depot. I was then contacted via pigeon claiming that the task force would not arriving and that I had to report back to
command. As I was doing one more sweep of the area I saw general Kaiser enter one of the buildings. I convinced myself to go in and take out the
General as he was the main man in supplying the enemy troops and without him the Germans would be held back on production and supply for weeks
...show more content...
The building was empty when suddenly I my leg was grabbed , I reacted fast and pulled out my trench knife and jerked my leg away from the grasp
of the hand, but I looked down at the now wet street only to see one of the men who I shot but apparently never ended, he crawled to me gasping for
air as his throat filled with the blood from the wound in his neck, I looked into his eyes that filed with blood and at that moment the soldier said "
Please....p p p please help me.....(cough,cough) I.....I have a wife and daughter." I faced a decision at that time, the monster who am or the
monster that they say I am. I grasped the man in between my arms and brought him closer to my body, I whispered a prayer that my mother taught
me when i was a child,"Father..forgive those who have forsaken me and forgive those who have forsaken you." The soldier's tears of blood ran
down my uniform, as I pierced his heart with my blade. I lay him down on the path and as he drew his last breath, he thanked me. The shed door
creaked slowly as i peered into the warm and sheltered air that was hiding from the storm. The General stood there in his dark grey coat, covered in
badges and symbols, a beacon of authority to all the soldiers under his influence. I tried to silence

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 All Quiet On The Western Front

"He fell in October 1918, on a day that was so quiet and still on the whole front, that the army report confined itself to a single sentence: All quiet on the
Western Front" (Remarque 296). Paul Baumer, the narrator of All Quiet on the Western Front, enlisted into the German army at a young age of
nineteen with a group of friends from school. Kantorek, Paul's teacher, "gave us long lectures until the whole of our class went, under his shepherding,
to the District Commandant and volunteered" (Remarque 11). After Paul and his friends underwent the ten weeks of horrific training, under the control
of brutal Corporal Himmelstoss, they found out that everything Kantorek had told them about the war being illustrious was inaccurate. Paul and his
fellow combatants experienced the war to be an alienating event that led the young men to feel alone because of the relationships between the young
men at the front, the problems Paul faced when returning home, and the prewar and wartime civilian society. The young men at the front had a distant
relationship that seemed to grow as the war went on. The men that fought at the front became alienated through all of the gruesome scenes they
encountered and the problems they faced daily. After just two weeks of battle only half of the men that went to battle with Paul remained at the battle
front. Paul along with all of the other soldiers at the front had to see their "brothers" shot and killed or wounded while fighting right by their side. Paul

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All Quiet on the Western Front

Erich Maria Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front" was set and written in Germany during the First World War. At this time the attitudes of war
were that it was a picture of glory and was the most heroic death that anyone could have. However "All Quiet on the Western Front" is an anti–war
novel which shows the truth and reality of war. The book was banned by the German Government as if it was read and believed by the young men it
would affect recruitment for the army.

"All Quiet on the Western Front" has many themes running through it including, isolation, loss of innocence and anti–war. Throughout all the
horrifying pictures of death and humanity, Remarque...show more content...
"One could sit like this forever". Paul remembers that he and his friends were embarrassed to use the general latrines when they were recruits. Now
they find them a luxury. Every soldier is intimately acquainted with his stomach and intestines. They are more than happy sitting their together smoking
and playing cards.

In Chapter 2 Paul feels utterly cut off from humanity; "our early life is cut off from the moment we came here," Because of the war, he feels like he
now has nothing. His relationship with his parents has weakened further, and he has no time for girlfriends or fun. He feels totally isolated and empty.
His only feelings of love and loyalty are those that he shares with his friends and fellow soldiers and he tries to think the best of them.

In chapter five Paul and his friends continue to form an extremely close bond as we see the intensity of the soldiers' friendships. They talk of what
they would do if it was peace time. "well, there'd be women of course, eh?" However Haie cannot imagine himself as anything but a soldier. "If I were
a non–com. I'd stay with the Prussians and serve out my time." they can't imagine themselves as anything but a soldier. In this chapter Remarque
suggest that the solders would have never met each other and formed such a tight friendship if it wasn't for the war. Paul marvels at the flood of

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 All Quiet On The Western Front Theme Essay

Lost generation is the idea of an unfulfilled generation coming to maturity during a period of instability (New Oxford American Dictionary). The idea
of lost generation first started with writers such as Ernest Hemmingway after having served time in the war felt a disconnection to his prewar self. In
the book, All Quiet on the Western Front, the author Erich Maria Remarque wrote about war and included details that were often kept as a secret. A
very prevalent theme in Remarque's novel is the loss of innocence, which ultimately leads a generation of soldiers to become known as the lost
generation. World War One caused a sense of instability and uncertainty in its young men, ultimately leading the soldiers to lose their innocence and
questions their sense of self.
Soldiers lost their innocence the moment they stepped onto the battlefield. They become so numb to the horrors of the war, which no longer feel a
sense of...show more content...
Without the uniform and title of a soldier who are they really? If they are not in combat then what is the purpose of their life, "I find I do not belong
here any more, it is a foreign world"(168) Paul has returned home but what was once a place he called home has become a distant memory from
before he went to war. There is a sense of disconnection to the things that had once brought him joy, "I stand there dumb. As before a judge. Dejected
Words, Words, Words– they do not reach me. Slowly I place the books back in the shelves. Nevermore. Quietly, I go out of the room" (173).
Disengaged from his former life Paul find himself upset, once upon a time the words on the pages of these books had made an impact on him,
entertained him but now feels no connection to these words. They are now unimportant in his new life, he now has no time to worry about what will
happen on the next page but only worries about the next chapter in his

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 All Quiet On The Western Front

All Quiet On The Western Front is an account of WW1, from the perspective of a soldier named Paul Baumer. The author of the novel, Erich
Maria Remarque, based the novel on his own life as he too fought in the war and was transferred to the Western Front. The war destroyed the men
that took part in it. Simply put Remarque's novel is an example of how the war has shaped history and if it were not read we would still be at war
like they were in WW1, disoriented and unorganized. World War 1 was a historical period in which the UK, France and the Russian Empire (known as
the Triple Entente) went to war with Germany and Austria–Hungry. It lasted for 4 years spanning from July 29th, 1914 to November 11th, 1918. There
was much miscommunication between nations, which in turn was cause for much bloodshed as it led to about 16 million deaths in total. Many
historians note this War as the deadliest in world history. As the war progressed, many other nations started joining in and taking sides. Soon enough
the war would spread over the world. The wars cause is believed to be due to the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. Because of this,
Austria– Hungry declared war on Serbia. One would lead to the other and we were left with a mess of each nation at war with each other, making up
the World War. The war would end in the fall of 1918 after 4 years of fighting. Concluding the war the German, Russian, Austria–Hungry and Ottoman
Empires would be left. The after effects of

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 All Quiet on the Western Front Essay

In the words of Otto Von Bismarck, "Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before
starting a war." Many of the preceding war novels to All Quiet on the Western Front, misrepresented or overlooked the anguish of war, in favor of more
resplendent ideals such as glory, honor, or nationalism. The predominant issue of All Quiet on the Western Front is the terribleatrocities of war. The
reality that is portrayed in the novel is that there was no glory or honor in this war, only a fierce barbarity that actually transformed the nature of human
existence into irreparable, endless affliction, destroying the soldiers long before their deaths.
The novel is narrated by Paul Bäumer, a...show more content...
While the disconnection allows the soldier to adapt to the brutal war environment, it inhibits them from re–entering society. When he takes his leave, he
is unable to feel comfortable at home. Even if Paul had survived the war physically, he most likely would not have integrated back into society
suitably. The emotional disconnection inhibits soldiers from mourning their fallen friends and comrades. However, Paul was somewhat less than able
to completely detach himself from his feelings, and there are several moments in the when he feels himself pulled down by emotion. These rush of
feelings indicate the magnitude to which war has automated Paul to cut himself off from feeling, as when he says, with unbridled understatement,
"Parting from my friend Albert Kropp was very hard. But a man gets used to that sort of thing in the army (p. 269) ."
World War I was viewed as a new sort of war. Before World War I, wars generally did not involve nonstop fighting over a period of years. In the past
the armies mostly consisted of hired mercenaries, or professionals who fought seasonally. However, the soldiers in this novel are volunteers. For Paul
and his classmates, the army has become an expression of patriotic duty; they do not perceive it as a career. Outside the classroom, young men of their
age faced condemnation from society if they did not join the war

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 All Quiet On The Western Front Reaction Paper

The first memory that sparked my mind when reading this section was the whole idea of do the ends justify the means. When discussing the wartime
battle at the trenches of Somme and having the men gain mere feet in the German defenses and loosing thousands of lives, the question really comes
to beg were the lives justified. It brings me back to the discussion that we held in class over weather we thought that the athenians should take over the
island of Crete. Although in that in class discussion, we were deciding on the stance of the athenians, if you take the perspective of the Cretes and
question if what they chose to do justified what was the result of there action it looks very difficult. If they had simply gone along with the athenians,
they would also have to betray their own moral judgements towards enslavement and conquest. However, because they chose instead to stand their
ground, we read that countless men, women and children were brutally killed; did the ends make it...show more content...
My teacher, I swear he was in the CIA of something, was able to show us the war stories that made sure to give us students an honest idea of war
time. He had stated that many history books are jaded based on which region that they are published, and that since the major textbook provider
for history books was in Texas, he didn't trust them to always show different perspectives. Despite All Quiet on the Western Front being a book
about war, it also was a book about life and death as well as friendship and the bonds that we carry with others. Ending with the death of even the
leading character (sorry I didn't mean to give away spoilers in case you were planning on reading it), it ended oddly just as any war story should, after
all the horrible strife and hardship simply the calm

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All quiet On the Western Front, a book written by Erich Maria Remarque tells of the harrowing experiences of the First World War as seen through the
eyes of a young German soldier. I think that this novel is a classic anti–war novel that provides an extremely realistic portrayal of war. The novel
focuses on a group of German soldier and follows their experiences.

Life for the soldiers in the beginning is a dramatic one as they are ordered up to the frontline to wire fences. The frontline makes Paul feel
immediately different as described here. "As if something is inside us, in our blood, has been switched on." The front makes Paul more aware and
switched on as if his senses and reactions are sharpened. I think Paul and his friends are...show more content...
"A wounded soldier? I shout to him–no answer– must be dead." The dead body has fallen out the coffin and the coffin has been unearthed because of
the shelling. Even the dead and buried cannot rest in peace during this war. This just adds to the horror of the situation Paul is in.

Through out this book the author shows that war is not about heroism and fighting nobly for your country, war is a terrible thing. Paul and his
friends are on the frontline in the shelters for days and the pressure gets to the men as Paul says here. "The recruit who had the fit earlier is raving
again and two more have joined in. One breaks away and runs for it." This shows that the frontline, added by lack of food, has driven the young
recruits mad and so much so that one recruit runs away out into the battle field with inevitable consequence of death. Paul describes the front line in
many ways to show the reader and give the reader a good picture of what the frontline is like for a soldier, as Paul expresses here." The front is a cage
and you have to wait nervously in it for whatever happens to you", and Paul also says. "I can be squashed flat in a bomb–proof dugout, and I can
survive ten hours in the pen under heavy barrage without a scratch." This shows the reader that it is very unpredictable on the frontline and that a
soldier owes his life only to lucky chances that they have not yet been killed.

Paul and his platoon have been turned into machines due to the war, controlled by

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