During life threatening situations, you tend to protect yourself out of first instinct. In the book All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul shows an example of violence when he attacks a french soldier while he is in hiding, trying not to get hurt. The soldier jumps into the same hole as him, not knowing that Paul was right there waiting to defend himself. “I do not think at all, I make no decision—I strike madly at home, and feel only how the body suddenly convulses, then becomes limp, and collapses. When I recover myself, my hand is sticky and wet.” (Remarque, ch. 9). The sudden exposure of possible death led him to acting out and using self defense to protect himself. He did not think twice about his actions and striked when he had the chance.
