An Analytical Essay: The End Of World War I

With war come the ineludible concepts of death and casualties. Who does this war affect? Why does it exist? Surely it must be of some benefit to the insane people who started a war? When two states equally demand power, they resort to a choice that should not even exist- sacrificing manpower for fame and land. Young males, brainwashed by their schoolteachers to join the army and support their fatherland, suffer this bitter torture between life and mostly death.It is clear-cut that Erich Remarque, a veteran himself in combat during World War I, endeavors to show us that the atrocities of warfare will one day bring destruction to all participating powers, whether they win or lose the battle. Especially to Albert Kropp, a good friend of the narrator, Paul Baümer, the idea of war is extremely irrational. The German soldiers are "[in the war] to protect [their] fatherland, and the French are over there to protect their fatherland. Now who [is] in the right?" (Remarque 203). The truth is, nobody is in the right if lives are being sacrificed for country leaders’ own, selfish desires. Paul himself notes that war is essentially torture to the mind and body of each soldier and civilian in a war zone. “A …show more content…
To stay alive means to let all else go, including ideas, ambitions, and desires. Soldiers “cannot burden [themselves] with feelings which, though they might be ornamented enough in peace time, would be out of place [on the battlefield]” (Remarque 139). Therefore, their hearts are turned gray, able to express feelings, but not in the open for others to notice. Especially while on leave or after the war has ceased, soldiers are not able to fit in with their surroundings quite easily. A soldier, just like Paul, may feel as if not a single person understands their plight after their experiences at the front, and that only a man can understand another