Have you ever felt empty? empty enough to not feel bad about lying? Empty enough to not care about men with their arms literally blown off. Have you ever reached the point where you have no faith? no ideals? no emotion? Well in, All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul Baumer reaches this point after seeing the horror and terror of WWI. Affecting him by tarnishing and destroying everything he held oly. It affected me in not such the same way, but instead it brought my attention and changed my outlook on what exactly WWI was, shedding it in a more harsh light, Revealing the horrors and details of the most bloody conflict in human history. The author is trying to convince the reader of the emptiness of war, to show that it isn’t a thing of beauty or a service to country. It shows that experiencing this results in extreme
consequences that change a man's personality and ideals, slowly draining him of his innocence.
When Paul Baumer, a German soldier in WWI, returns back from the front from leave. He is confronted with all his old stuff and memories, his old life. When he is back at his old house he tries to rembrace his childhood by surrounding himself with his favorite books, but he feels as if he is unable to capture his childhood and it is then when he loses his innocence. Another task Paul has to attend to after is telling Kemmerich’s mother of her sons death, but instead of regaling her in the true way of his death, he lies. Then she makes him swear that is truth on all he holds holy, and he does, fully damning himself.
When Paul swears to Kemmerich’s mother, on all that he holds holy, that he is not lying about Kemmerich’s method of death. In actuality his is lying, but Paul was able to swear on all that he held holy because he doesn’t hold anything holy anymore. The horrors of war took away his childhood innocence that he so fondly remembers, now he is just a cold shell of a man, a soldier. I think that this book is incredible it displays and shows that the horrors of war can really change a man, and almost always for the worst. It made me feel sympathy towards soldiers, but it also distanced me from Paul and him as a person. It changed my ideals of what it means to be a soldier and how cationizing the whole experience. It changed my whole world view on what exactly WWI, and what war is, a terrible and horrible experience, and how through war men age and mature seemingly aging twice as fast.
consequences that change a man's personality and ideals, slowly draining him of his innocence.
When Paul Baumer, a German soldier in WWI, returns back from the front from leave. He is confronted with all his old stuff and memories, his old life. When he is back at his old house he tries to rembrace his childhood by surrounding himself with his favorite books, but he feels as if he is unable to capture his childhood and it is then when he loses his innocence. Another task Paul has to attend to after is telling Kemmerich’s mother of her sons death, but instead of regaling her in the true way of his death, he lies. Then she makes him swear that is truth on all he holds holy, and he does, fully damning himself.
When Paul swears to Kemmerich’s mother, on all that he holds holy, that he is not lying about Kemmerich’s method of death. In actuality his is lying, but Paul was able to swear on all that he held holy because he doesn’t hold anything holy anymore. The horrors of war took away his childhood innocence that he so fondly remembers, now he is just a cold shell of a man, a soldier. I think that this book is incredible it displays and shows that the horrors of war can really change a man, and almost always for the worst. It made me feel sympathy towards soldiers, but it also distanced me from Paul and him as a person. It changed my ideals of what it means to be a soldier and how cationizing the whole experience. It changed my whole world view on what exactly WWI, and what war is, a terrible and horrible experience, and how through war men age and mature seemingly aging twice as fast.