All Quiet on the Western Front
All Quiet on the Western Front
If one of your teachers had convinced you to enlist in the military, would you do it? In the book, All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, Paul Baumer, the narrator, receives a letter from their school teacher Kantorek, pressuring and convincing him and all of his schoolmates to join the war. This book is about a group of young men who join the War. Would you join the war, even if you knew what the outcome would be? Throughout the book, you can tell that this was has had a major impact on Paul.
Being in a war can change your whole life around. Paul starts to get a little bit crazy being stuck in the hole with the man he killed and he starts talk to him, but the guy is dead. Paul says "No, no" (page 219). Paul feels guilty about killing him and thinks about the man's family and life. Realism plays a major role in this book because as you can tell, Paul was getting horrible flashbacks and had witnessed many things. War can change a human-being completely because it can make you not only physically tough, but also mentally tough.
Everyone has a heart, but not as strong as Paul Baumer does. "No doubt his wife still thinks of him she does not know what happened" (Page 222). Paul gets this man's wallet out and gets the guys' name and says that he will write his wife. This quote shows that Paul still had a heart even though he is at war. He feels bad that he just killed a man with a knife. The other soldiers tell him it will be just fine, and not to stress over it because it's part of the war.
There is always more than one side to a story. "No doubt his wife still thinks of him, she doesn't know what happened" (Page 222). Then, Paul gets out the dead man's wallet, and writes to the man's wife. Paul starts to get a little bit crazy being stuck in the hole with the man he just killed, with a knife, however, starts talking to him (Page. 219). Paul feels guilty about killing him and thinks about the man's life and family.