All Quiet on the Western Front follows Paul Bäumer, a German high school student, who voluntarily enlists in the army for World War I. Paul and a number of his classmates volunteered after listening to patriotic speeches from their teacher, Kantorek. Paul and his classmates realize the idea of nationalism that moved them to enlist was nothing but a hollow shell. The idea that we should join the military because of nationalism is still relevant today. All Quiet on the Western Front makes you start questioning whether or not enlisting is a smart or worthwhile idea.
After two weeks of fighting, Paul’s company is given a rest but only return with 80 of 150 men. The men are able to eat enough food to satisfy themselves, which rarely happens due to small ration sizes, due to the shrinking size of the company. I am sure most of the men, if not all, must have been thinking whether they were going to die next. I find the dramatically shrinking size of the company to be depressing. …show more content…
They are forced by artillery to move into a graveyard where the ground moves so much that the bodies of the dead begin to emerge from their graves. Later on during a battle, they are attacked by charging Allied forces. It was extremely gruesome, men are blown to pieces and corpses are eaten by enormous rats. The graphic detail that Remarque goes into truly drives home his point of the horrors of war. He also shows how soldiers resort to primal instincts to survive in saying that you would throw a bomb at your own father if he came in with the
After two weeks of fighting, Paul’s company is given a rest but only return with 80 of 150 men. The men are able to eat enough food to satisfy themselves, which rarely happens due to small ration sizes, due to the shrinking size of the company. I am sure most of the men, if not all, must have been thinking whether they were going to die next. I find the dramatically shrinking size of the company to be depressing. …show more content…
They are forced by artillery to move into a graveyard where the ground moves so much that the bodies of the dead begin to emerge from their graves. Later on during a battle, they are attacked by charging Allied forces. It was extremely gruesome, men are blown to pieces and corpses are eaten by enormous rats. The graphic detail that Remarque goes into truly drives home his point of the horrors of war. He also shows how soldiers resort to primal instincts to survive in saying that you would throw a bomb at your own father if he came in with the