Death by Instincts: An Examination of Soldiers Turning Towards their Animal Halves
Out in the wild animals rely on their instincts to survive, either escaping from a predator or fighting for their lives. In WWI, humans often turned over their consciousness to these animal instincts to keep alive and win their fight. While this exchange seemed to keep them alive, it actually killed the soldiers internally. These soldiers’ mental undoing were documented after WWI in All Quiet on the Western Front, which narratives the lives of Paul Bäumer and his classmates fighting in the war. Erich Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front shows that animal instincts are not as valuable as human consciousness in the battle to survive due to the mental destruction …show more content…
When rats invaded the soldiers’ living quarters and viciously attempted to steal their bread, the men decided to retaliate. The classmates threw bread scraps into a pile, waited for the rats to appear, and then attacked: “Faces are distorted, arms strike out, and the beasts scream! We just stop in time to avoid attacking one another” (108). When the soldiers attack the rats, they are the ones who are classified as the beasts. The men barely contain themselves from mauling each other and are only saved by the return of their consciousness. The men do not seem human or aware of their actions in their battle with the rats, revealing the toll of their savage behavior. Another example of the soldiers’ depleting humanity is when Kat and Paul encounter an injured soldier and decide they should kill him: “Yes, Kat, we ought to put him out of his misery” (72). The two men decide to murder someone as if they are putting down a dog, without knowing if the injured soldier can survive their injuries. Kat and Paul’s lack of empathy signals how they only see human life objectively and not something worth fighting for. The soldiers have become so desensitized by constant death; they no longer feel the emotions that make a person alive. In order to physically survive the men willing give up their souls: “We turn into animals when we go up to the line, because that is the only thing which brings us through safely… we want to live at any price; so we cannot burden ourselves with emotions” (139). In the fight for survival, the soldiers end up isolating themselves from the rest of humanity. The soldiers give up their minds and emotions, effectively making them
Out in the wild animals rely on their instincts to survive, either escaping from a predator or fighting for their lives. In WWI, humans often turned over their consciousness to these animal instincts to keep alive and win their fight. While this exchange seemed to keep them alive, it actually killed the soldiers internally. These soldiers’ mental undoing were documented after WWI in All Quiet on the Western Front, which narratives the lives of Paul Bäumer and his classmates fighting in the war. Erich Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front shows that animal instincts are not as valuable as human consciousness in the battle to survive due to the mental destruction …show more content…
When rats invaded the soldiers’ living quarters and viciously attempted to steal their bread, the men decided to retaliate. The classmates threw bread scraps into a pile, waited for the rats to appear, and then attacked: “Faces are distorted, arms strike out, and the beasts scream! We just stop in time to avoid attacking one another” (108). When the soldiers attack the rats, they are the ones who are classified as the beasts. The men barely contain themselves from mauling each other and are only saved by the return of their consciousness. The men do not seem human or aware of their actions in their battle with the rats, revealing the toll of their savage behavior. Another example of the soldiers’ depleting humanity is when Kat and Paul encounter an injured soldier and decide they should kill him: “Yes, Kat, we ought to put him out of his misery” (72). The two men decide to murder someone as if they are putting down a dog, without knowing if the injured soldier can survive their injuries. Kat and Paul’s lack of empathy signals how they only see human life objectively and not something worth fighting for. The soldiers have become so desensitized by constant death; they no longer feel the emotions that make a person alive. In order to physically survive the men willing give up their souls: “We turn into animals when we go up to the line, because that is the only thing which brings us through safely… we want to live at any price; so we cannot burden ourselves with emotions” (139). In the fight for survival, the soldiers end up isolating themselves from the rest of humanity. The soldiers give up their minds and emotions, effectively making them