Storm Of Steel Language Analysis

Throughout Storm of Steel, his memoir recollecting his experiences during World War I, Ernst Jünger employs the use of simplistic language to express the immediacy of the war. Instead of using a more stylistic and grandiose approach to his writing, the former soldier conveys his feelings through short and plain-spoken statements. Jünger’s style reflects the aloof mindset that fighting in war can produce. Jünger keeps his sentences simple and short. Grammatically, these sentences are proper sentences and complete thoughts, but stylistically, they leave a lot to be desired. Instead of a long, drawn out soliloquy describing the terror he felt after seeing a bullet enter and exit his fellow soldier’s head, he instead quickly gives background information as to his role in his family back home. Even his description of his fellow soldiers’ emotions is lacking in regards to substance. Jünger does not give his audience any further information in regards to the situation, and does not elaborate on whether or not his soldiers were able to actually exact their revenge for the fallen soldier, or if they retrieved his body so it could be buried, or if they sent a telegraph to indicate to his family he had died. Instead, Jünger simply moves on to the next death. Jünger only recounts …show more content…
The sudden escalation used to describe the soldier’s death is given to convey the quick and dynamic nature of war itself. Jünger’s diction and structure alternate between a slowed calm and frenzied panic. When describing an advance on the enemy’s lines, Jünger lists the sights and sounds he experiences while marching in a single, organized line before scattering due to enemy fire (Jünger 278-279). It is during these instances that Jünger allows his sentences to drag on, as there is too much information to be absorbed, and explaining it all in small sentences would not do these scenes due