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... He has told me of the villages lost and the lives ruined. He told me of the devastating impact war has on the human spirit; how those experiencing the wrath of war find themselves unable to return to civilian life. Its very ironic if you analyze war closely, how so many people give up their own lives and freedom to preserve the freedoms of their fellow countrymen.
War. It just does not make sense. This perception is seen in the book where, hundreds of thousands of young men gave up their lives for a fight that did not involve them. They died, in pain and agony, not realizing the reason they were fighting.
For this reason war, both in the book and real life, does not make sense. The Sorrows of War and the Glorious Lies Is it really worth it? Is the simple order by a superior officer enough for someone to spill the blood of innocent soldiers? In All Quiet on the Western Front, a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a group of soldiers learn the hard way about the realities of war. They encounter trench warfare and hand-to-hand combat and slowly see how horrible the war is. Using the book, the author expresses his hatred towards war and how only evil comes from it.
The emotions and actions of the soldiers represent the realities of war where brotherhoods are formed, the public is tricked in seeing war as good, and how deep inside everyone is the same. The soldiers in the Second Company form this bond between each other that represents that of all wartime buddies. They develop these friendships where they depend on each other so that they can make it through the war. The young soldiers play cards, smoke together and joke around together to pass time when they are not fighting. Their reactions towards dying friends show their love for one another. Suddenly little Kropp throws his cigarette away, stamps on it savagely, and looking around him with a broken and distracted face, stammers Damned sh t, the damned sh t! (page 18).
Even after their good friend Kemmerich passes away, the circle of friends is able to pull together and get through it all. They have a deep love for each other. Some soldiers like Paul and Katczinsky even feel a father / son relationship with each other. We dont talk much, but I believe we have a more complete communion with one another than even lovers have (page 94). The war has brought them together. It has made them rely on each other for survival and has brought them to forget the horrors of war.
The soldiers fight because of simple orders. They really have nothing to gain from it. Their superior officers dont know what its like. They get out on the battlefield and cowardly turn away.
All those people who romanticize war including Kantorek and Himmelstoss go to trench warfare and they see the real truth. They see that they have misled the public with propaganda and their continuous actions to have people volunteer. Quickly I jump back into the dug-out and find him with a small scratch lying in a corner pretending to be wounded. His face looks sullen. He is in a panic; he is new to it too. But it makes me mad that the young recruits should be out there and he here (page 131).
The soldiers are the ones who see the real war while the public sees only the nationalism and the patriotism. They are the ones spilling the blood and not really seeing a good thing about war while the nations view is that they are winning. They dont see all the strings attached to the word winning. They dont see the blood being spilled nor do they see the loss of lives of innocent soldiers. Even these soldiers were at one time this way.
Many of them came into the war as volunteers who were persuaded by teachers, elders, and political personnel. During drill-time Kantorek gave us long lectures until the whole of our class went, under his shepherding, to the District Commandant and volunteered (page 11). They all really wanted to fight for their country but little did they know that they would be fighting without a good, valid reason. Throughout the war, they saw what they were getting themselves into, the murder of innocent soldiers just like them. What defines murder? Can it be defined as willful, unlawful killing?
The public does not consider these soldiers murderers but they themselves know full well that they are murdering people. They kill them because of a simple order, but do these orders justify their killing rampage? Deep inside all the soldiers come from the same background: fighting for their country and becoming heroes. But what makes a hero, the killing of other potential heroes? They have grown through war to understand that they are like all the other soldiers, fighting for the same pointless cause. Paul clearly sees this when he takes the life of a Frenchman.
I do not think at all, I make no decision I strike madly at home, and feel only how the body suddenly convulses, then becomes limp, and collapses (page 216). He feels the responsibility to be the one to tell this mans wife how he died and why he died. Paul realizes that it was completely wrong and that the government had played with his mind making him think that the idea of killing at war was good. He also sees that if the situation was different, that all of them could be friends instead of enemies. The soldiers realize that they are all alike and that they have nothing to gain from their killing. The soldiers from this novel represent actual feelings about brotherhoods, misperceptions of war and the pointless fighting.
They provide clear examples of these with their experiences from war. From sitting on their boxes and chatting, to the realization of a friend inside an enemy, these soldiers have been able to see the realities of war and have shared it with the rest of the world. People can now see how horrid it is to be in a war and now they try at all costs to prevent war. War is bad, thats all there is to it. Not much more you can say about it except that. When viewing the death of innocent people, the question is asked once again, is it really worth it?
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Research essay sample on Trench Warfare Deep Inside
