All Quiet On The Western Front Ptsd Analysis

PTSD is a disorder in which a person has difficulty recovering after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event.The situations these men are constantly put in throughout the book for example the constant loss of comrades and grieving for them,the fact that they are so young when experiencing these events,and they have accepted the fact that they would never have a chance at ta “regular” life. Throughout the war novel Paul Baumer and his comrades are exposed to absolutely horrific scenes of war that completely destroy their sense of humanity. When Paul kills one of the men from the other side he sees that the “ man [is] like [him]. [he] thought of [his] hand-grenades, of [his] bayonet, of [his] rifle; now [Paul] sees [his] wife and [his] face and our fellowship. Forgive me, comrade. [They] always see it too late. Why do they never tell us that you are poor devils like us, that your mothers are just as anxious as ours, and that we have the same fear of death, and the same dying and the same agony--Forgive me, comrade; how could you be my enemy?”(Remarque 223). Sometimes these young soldiers forget that their enemy are also people just like them and in this scene it seems as if Paul Baumer for the first time in the book he realizes that this man is not only his …show more content…
“[These men are young, [they are] twenty years old; yet [they] know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. [they] see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another.”(Remarque 263). In teen’s brains, the connections between the emotional part of the brain and the decision-making center are still developing—and not necessarily at the same rate,the main characters in All Quiet on the Western Front are mostly 19-20 years so not even close to the ge that the brain is fully