Wednesday, May 29, 2019

All Quiet on the Western Front Essay: Pauls Facade -- All Quiet on th

capital of Minnesotas Facade in All Quiet on the Western Front   In Erich Maria Remarques novel All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul Baumer paints a vivid picture of the horrors of war. Many of these horrors atomic number 18 purely physical, such as the constant bombardments and gunshots whizzing overhead. entirely along with these physical horrors get on with mental and emotional ones. Chief among these is the war mindset that the soldier must acquire in order to survive war. The essence of this mindset is the total edit for human life, and with it, human beliefs and customs. War requires a suspension of these standard human beliefs and customs. Paul outwardly appears to have acquired this war mindset, but he does not impute it and thus eventually dies.   For the most part, Paul at least outwardly appears to have adopted the war mindset. His actions are very much those of the typical soldier. For example, Paul, uniform all the other soldiers, will do anything he can f or food. He is well accustomed to relieving himself out of doors Here in the open air though, the agate line is entirely a pleasure. I no longer understand why we should always have shied at these things before. They are, in fact, just as natural as eating and drinking (8). Most of all, he values his survival above social customs We have lost all sense of other considerations, because they are artificial. Only the facts are real and important for us. And good boots are scarce (21). For Paul, as for most soldiers, the rules of normal, polite society simply do not reach at the front. In the time between Pauls volunteering for the war and the beginning of the book, he has changed. For all the physical evidence, he is a common foot soldier.   But Pauls transformatio... ... Paul wanted to get out of the war. maybe Paul died on the right day he loves quiet, and he dies on possibly the quietest day of the whole war. Maybe he just wanted to end his misery. In any case, Paul cannot a ccept the philosophy of war and thus gives himself up for death.   Society wants soldiers to believe that war is glorious. But it is not. Society wants soldiers to believe war is an adventure. But it is not. Society wants soldiers to believe that our enemy is the only enemy, that our cause is the only cause, that our people are the only people. But there are many enemies, many causes and many peoples. According to Paul, all these causes are equally ignoble, and none of these enemies are worthy of being slaughtered en masse. For Paul, as for many people, past, present, and future, war is simply unacceptable, and nothing can repair the damage it does.

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