Rainer Maria Rilke

In All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque’s anti-war novel, and Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi’s own graphic memoir, Paul Baumer and Marji live in unfavorable environments, permanently shaping their beliefs and identities. During World War I, Paul fights on the Western Front where the war dehumanizes him. Before Baumer serves in the cruel war, he is blinded by the glory he is told he will receive by entering Germany’s army. However, after months of witnessing inhumanely killed…

eager to fight – thanks to his teacher’s stirring speeches –, Bäumer soon realizes he knew nothing about war but clichés. In the company of his schoolmates, he faces the constant physical terror and mental damage of true war and trench warfare. Erich Maria Remarque – born Erich Paul Remarque – was born on June 22nd, 1898, in Osnabrück, Westphalia. The third child in a family of four, he was brought up in a strict Catholic household, his family on the lower end of the working class. One of his…

"In the town they tell the story of the great pearl- how it was found and how it was lost again. They tell of Kino, the fisherman, and of his wife, Juana, and of the baby, Coyotio. And because the story has been told so often, it has taken root in every man's mind. And, as with all retold tales that are in people's hearts, there are only good and bad things and black and white things and good and evil things and no in- between anywhere.” The Pearl by John Steinbeck is a short hundred…

From the novel, “All Quiet on the Western Front”, many images linger in my mind. The war had many gruesome details that the men on the front have to deal with every day. One image that particularly haunts me is when Paul is stuck with the enemy soldier he killed. He spends this time with him, talking to a dead man as though he was still alive. After Paul stabs the soldier, he immediately regrets it and pleas for forgiveness. This is extremely disturbing and creates the feeling of pity and sorrow…

Merriam-Webster defines the term motif as a “usually recurring salient thematic element (as in the arts); especially : a dominant idea or central theme” (“Motif”). In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, the author Erich Maria Remarque mentions two principle motifs which are comradeship and lost generation. The novel follows a young solider, Paul Bäumer, and his comrades throughout their journey at the front of World War I. The soldiers experience many horrors throughout their time in the…

What might the pearl symbolize? The pearl symbolizes many things, yet one symbol really sticks out to me- evilness. Although the pearl may bring many riches and lots of prosperity, in The Pearl, it seems that Steinbeck is attempting to portray evil though this metaphor. On page 23, the news of Kino’s discovery had reached everyone in the city, and “all manner of people grew interested in Kino”. Before Kino had discovered this pearl, he was just an Indian that lived along the sea in a…

The destruction, devastation, and desolation of war illustrate the dangers of conflict. Taken during the new age of photography, Scene Showing Deserted Camp and Wounded Soldier by Matthew Brady allowed numerous Americans to see the Civil War with their own eyes. While no visible conflicts appear in the work, it still illustrates the destructive abilities of war on both the human and nature. In the photo, the rifle next to the injured soldier suggests a recent battle. The broken walls and…

Have you ever acted in a certain way and then later changed your attitude or outlook based on events or situations that have taken place? In the novel, The Pearl, written by John Steinbeck and the fictional short story “The Treasure of Lemon Brown” by Walter Dean Myers, this is exactly what happens. The Pearl is about a man named Kino who finds a large pearl to help his son who was stung by a scorpion. However, men try to steal the pearl and attack Kino, leading him to show no mercy and kill…

Pearl’s moral ambiguity shows in her transformation from being seen as a beacon of evil to being seen as an intellectual and socially aware young lady. By being a morally ambiguous character, Hawthorne is able to leave the reader in a perpetual state of apprehension regarding Pearl’s true moral alignment. From the moment Pearl is born, the little girl is treated like an outsider, and as a figure of evil and possible satanic origin. This view of Pearl comes forth in the personality during her…

Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front is an anti-war novel expressing the views of an average World War I soldier named Paul. Erich Maria Remarque uses an assortment of voice elements to create tone. In the passage on the preceding page, Paul describes his surroundings on the front. The tone of the excerpt is presented to be emotionless and overwhelming. An example of a voice element that has a large role in the tone is diction. Diction is used in the excerpt by the use of the…