All Quiet On The Western Front the Novel :: Erich Maria Remarque

Kantorek would sayWe stood on the thresh hoar of sustenanceAnd so it would seemWe had as yet taken no rootThe war swept us awayFor the others, the older men,It is but an interruption, they are able to think beyond itWe, however, have been gripped by itAnd do not know what the end whitethorn beWe know stillThat in some strange and trouble wayWe have become a wastelandWhat does war do to a man? It destroys his inner being it crushes hope it kills him. Experiencing battle leaves single the flesh of a man, for he no longer has a reputation it leaves a wasteland where a vast field of humanity at one time was. Through the main character, capital of Minnesota Baumer, the reader experiences the hardships and consequences of war. During the course of the war, Paul reflects on how the young men involved in the war have no future left for them, theyve become a lost times. Paul feels that his generation has become a wasteland because the war has made him into a detached animal, becau se he knew nothing before the war, and because the war has sh proclaim the cheapness of human life. passim the novel, Paul must face dangerous tasks. For example, in chapter nine Paul crawls through No Mans Land to gather information about adversary forces. While in No Mans Land, the enemy begins to bombard the Germans. Paul, fearing death, hides in an old shell crater and pretends to be dead. While feigning death, an enemy pass enters the crater. Paul quickly reacts and strike at the enemy with his dagger, fatally knifelike the soldier.In a later chapter, Paul explains why he reacted so quickly. War has turned all the soldiers into unthinking animals in order to arrive at us the weapon of instinct. This primal instinct is one of survival it is the only thing that matters during war. It allows the soldiers to remain calm in battle, it allows them to escape solitude, and aids them in survival. As in a polar expedition, every expression of life must serve only the preserv ation of existence, and is absolutely focused on that Paul and the other soldiers do only what is necessary to ensure their own survival. This affects each soldier when the war is finished. When a soldier returns back to his firm after the war, he is unable to escape his primitive feelings of survival.