All+Quiet+on+the+Western+Front+by+Dan+C.

  All Quiet on the Western Front Journal #1   The story follows Paul Baumer, a German solider in WWI and his school mates fighting on the Western Front. He and his fellow school mates are all 19 years old and went to the same class together. They had just returned from battle and the cook made food for a 150 men. The reality was that only 80 of the 150 came back from the vicious fighting. The men used to be embarrassed to use latrines (much like in Farewell to Manzanar) but now they find them a rare luxury. The men are considered the "Iron Youth," which is an empty term to the boys. The words of praise are void when talking about one of Paul’s school mates, Kemmerich was dieing slowly from a leg wound. The whole camp can hear him dieing in agony, and the term “Iron Youth” doesn’t mean much to the youth in the war. Muller, one of the soldiers wanted Kemmerich's boots, as Kemmerich had no use for them now. Paul lies to Kemmerich and tells him that he is safe and is gonna get better, which is a lie and they both know it. Before he dies, he gives Paul his boots, and tells him to give them to Muller. Soon after, he dies and his body is carried out and immediately replaced with a wounded solider.

 The beginning of the book has been very gloomy. It starts off with the men at camp talking about how so many of their friends died. Kemmerich is a grim example of this. His leg was amputated and he died from it, and all Muller wanted was his boots. It seems terrible that these men are so hardened from war that they didn't feel sad that their friend died, they just fought over his items. It seems so unfair that he was just carried out and replaced almost as fast as his body was taken out. The book is very dark, yet very interesting because WWI seems to be untouched in the media because of its dark nature.

         <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"> -significance of WW1 <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-WWI -credibility of author -Germany in WW1 -sig. of book

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> All Quiet on the Western Front Journal #2 pg 48-76

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> During this section many memorable, and dark, moments happen. Most notably was when the men where being shelled by enemy mortars. The narrator compared the shelling to fireworks, and that they may be “mighty fine fire-works if they weren’t so dangerous.”(40) He says that me might actually enjoy the shelling if they weren't so dangerous. As the shells begin to smash the ground around them, he grabs one of the recruits and notices his "pants are full," adding a little comedy to the grime scene of war. The narrator tells the private that soon he will get used to it, something that is more frightful than reassuring. Gas shelling begins shortly after. Gas is extremely iconic in World War 1 as it was primarily used in the war and banned soon after the war ended. The recruit died during the gas shelling, a sad moment in the book, as you can only feel pity for the young man sent to war. Sometime after, the main character thinks of his experience in boot-camp. His instructors are bossy and mean even though they are peers. They run extra laps just for not signing a silly song, and treated like dirt. Compared to last section, these have had lots of action, which means more grime scenes of war and suspenseful moments.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> This section has been a lot more interesting then the last one. The story and characters have developed a lot more and I can begin to see what war was like for the Germans in WWI. The part about the gas makes me consider what it was like to know that a single tear in your flimsy mask would result in a the most painful death imaginable, and I can only hope I never have to experience what they did. A part I can relate to is his boot-camp story. I feel as if everyone has had someone who thinks they are higher then them boss them just to show that they have authority. Sport coaches, for example, have made us run for not doing something right, or not paying attention. During this section I am starting to see really what this story entails, all of its brave moments and all of it's dark nightmares.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - WWI Artillery -WWI - <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[|__Gas in WWI__] <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">- <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[|__The "Western Front"__] <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-Germany in WWI

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> All Quiet on the Western Front #3

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The third section starts off about the downtime of war. Paul and his friends live in <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[|__conditions below par.__] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> One of the men, so tired of killing the lice one by one, take them and place them into a tin and heat it up to kill them all. Of the twenty men in Paul's class that went to war, Seven are dead, four are wounded, and one went insane. The men return to the front two days after, they see coffins stacked next to a school yard. The men joke around to distract them from that the fact that the coffins are made for them. They where given extra rations of cheese and rum, which they consume gratefully. Many rats try to scurry off with their rations, which the men defend. Soon, the downtime ends. Bombing begins as a signal of the impeding attack. They hide in their dugout trying to focus on something other then the approaching doom. No foods can get to the men and they have to wait until the bombing ends. As soon as it lessens, the French attack begins. They fight the French furiously and repel the attack with machine gun fire and grenades. They charge the enemy wrecking havoc, but its not long after that the French counter attack. After days of fighting, only 32 of the 150 original men remain. After those attacks the men get easy jobs, and receive a much needed rest. They meet up with french girls while on their rest, who give them food and comfort.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The attacks that the men faced where brutal and vicious. The author was showing the savagery of war and the emotional drain of war. It seems that trench warfare is grinding and painfully slow. No team can win because they can't get close enough to do any damage so dominating victories seem impossible. Ripping apart enemies with machine gun fire as they charge across an open area seems cowardly, as most of these man just want to survive. No one in war wants to charge the enemy as we see in the movies. This book seems to bash on the Hollywood version of war, romantic and heroic.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> -Conditions of German military <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[|__-German Weapons__] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-Bombing -Causalities of war

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> All Quiet on the Western Front Journal #4

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The section resumes with Paul leaving for home on his 17 day leave. He returns to find a country with civil distress and his mother with cancer. When his mother asks what war was like, he lies to her because no words could explain what he had seen. Before he returns to the war he meets up with his Kemmerich’s mother, whose son died in section one by an amputated leg, to inform her of what happened. She asks how he died, and he lies to her by saying he died quick and painless instead of the slow and agonizing death he had. He returns to be placed next to a Russian Prison Camp. He wonders how they could be an enemy, they looked like humble peasants. Paul sees so much in the Russians and feels war is pointless. This is a major anti-patriotism moment in the book. Paul now not only hates war’s effect on himself and his friends, but on the people they are fighting. Paul knows that they will kill the Russians, and but he tries with all his might to not think about it, as to keep his composure.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Back on the lines, Paul meets up with his friends. Most of which are still alive and sane. The German Kaiser comes to meet the troops, and the men are given fresh food and clothing. They find that their leader is not a remarkable man and the new clothes are taken away after he leaves. The troops say that the war is fought for the big leaders who want to just get into the history books. Paul volunteers to go into No Man's Land to gather intelligence on the enemy. On the way back he gets lost and is bombarded. He tries to hid in a shell hole as not to be seen or shot. A enemy solider jumps in with his knife drawn to try and kill Paul. Paul quickly stabs the French soldier. As he lies their with the body he notices that the man is not dead and tries to tend to his wounds. This is the first time Paul killed someone hand to hand. He finds a booklet in the man’s uniform and breaks down emotionally, the man was a printer from France with a wife ands kids, who did not deserve to die. Paul returns to the trench and his friends attempt to comfort him by telling him it was "kill or be killed." Much later after, Paul is the remaining member of his comrades that where sent to war with him. He inhales poison gas and is allowed to recuperate. He starts to dream of home, but is broken by the fact that war has stripped him of all his goals and dreams and he wouldn't be able to return to his life. Paul is killed after years of fighting on the quietest day of the war, and the book famously says, “as though almost glad the end had come."

media type="youtube" key="aiObc2XmVqw" height="390" width="480" align="right" This final section of this story is the most compelling part of the book. I am glad that I read this book as its message is so perfectly portrayed by Remarque. The part about the kaiser made me think of war in a way I had never really thought of it. War is just the leaders of society fighting over a spot in history, and the people have to pay the price. War is unnecessary in most cases and should be avioded at all costs. Most supporting of this was when Paul killed the French man in close combat. Shooting or telling someone to shoot the enemy is different than really killing them up close. Truly taking someone's life by your hand is something that no one should ever do. This applies because its easy for a leader in a room with other leaders to say that they want to kill each other, but instead have thousands of men march to their death on behalf of these men. Overall I think this book is important to how we should look at war and its effects and should weigh the facts, is war worth our youth?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> -War effect on countries <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[|__Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Shellshock)__] <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-Author <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> -Effect of book on world -life in the WWI Front lines