I, War

Author's Note: This is a response to the prominent motif of beauty in tragedy throughout All Quiet on the Western Front. In addition, it addresses the pattern of soldiers going off to die for something they neither understand nor advocate, and the brainwashing their superiors force upon them in order to make them fight.

This is not meant to insult anyone who willingly fights for our country. It is merely what I felt the novel was trying to convey.

My heart is black, a freezing void,

space that has lost its stars.

I reach out with my strong embrace, folding men softly into my arms.

Young men, old men, those in between –

I care for naught but their light, pulling it gently toward me

compensating for my deficit. I take it, gifting them in return

showering them with beauty, glory, raining color down around their hearts.

It encircles them, becomes them, fuses their heart and mine into

one.

Together we are strong, courageous, valiant,

standing against all I deem flawed.

Of course, wrong is relative, is it not –

but Brother Death and I care not for such trivialities

Merely for that which feeds our desires.

After all, those men no longer care for anything but what we wish.

Why should we concern ourselves with

mortal wishes?

Holding Back Grief

Author's Note: The goal of this piece is to reflect on an important theme in All Quiet on the Western Front. I was extremely affected by the end of chapter two and there were several quotes in that part that I loved, so I decided to go with grief and its effects. I also tried using alliteration at the end, something I don't usually do and am a bit hesitant about.

When a strong emotion strikes, be it grief, anger, love, it can be frightening and overwhelming. Oftentimes the natural instinct is to shove them aside, push them out of sight and out of mind and forget they ever appeared. However, when one suppresses his strongest emotions they simmer inside, gaining strength and urgency through the boil. It is exceedingly difficult to do this for long, and the more one does so the more attention must be focused on it. In All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque shows the difficulty of suppressing one’s emotions and desires as well as the discomfort doing so can create both through her characters and through her syntax.

As Paul Bäumer, a soldier on the western front, grieves, his internal struggle is depicted through the stilted phrasing Remarque uses as well as through Bäumer's physical responses to his grief. Bäumer sits with his friend Kemmerich as he dies, watching the other boy's pain and grief and sorrow. When Kemmerich is finally gone, Bäumer tries not to think about it, hoping that if he forgets his grief it will simply go away. He finds this difficult to do, however, and his thoughts and words become more choppy and short as his sadness wears him down. He takes his friend's things and goes back to the barracks to see that another friend "stands in front of the hut waiting for me. I give him the boots. We go in and he tries them on. They fit well" (33). They both cover their grief with their actions but the choppiness of their statements betray their inner strife. If they would only show their pain, let their sorrow run its course, they would be able to move on. Yet they do not and condemn themselves to endless despair. Paul's body itself shows its affliction = he begins to "feel a hunger, greater than comes from the belly alone" (33) His body hungers to let his passions out. The emotion eats at him from the inside out, making him hunger for happiness, however hopeless it may be.

Consequences of Selfishness

Author's Note: This is a response analyzing this quote:

"There were thousands of Kantoreks , all of whom were convinced that they were acting for the best – in a way that cost them nothing.

And that is why they let us down so badly."

I wanted to analyze both the message and the way it was delivered, and hope I did so well.

Mankind has in its nature a rather selfish aspect; he often believes, especially in times of crisis, that what is good for him is good for everyone. He forgets that others might be affected differently and he acts without remembering them. This can cause others great harm, in disasters such as war especially. Paul’s quote illustrates the self-interest that all men revert to when threatened and lets the reader hear the thoughts of a soldier affected by that egocentrism. This sentiment is not shown only through the words Paul writes, however. By stopping his thought and breaking to a new line before stating his disappointment, he hints at the subtle way that self-interest can affect others. The effects of Kantorek’s influence came slowly, creeping along and pretending to be logical, to be the right thing to do. The problem was, Kantorek wanted only to be seen as courageous, brave, strong. His selfishness led the boys who followed him into a deadly situation they couldn’t escape: the maws of war. They didn’t see it coming until it was upon them, pinning them down in a living hell, just as Paul’s reaction is sudden and harsh.

The effects of selfishness can be seen nearly everywhere – in government, in work, in family. It is a timeless problem with timeless consequences and will be around as long as man is. The Watergate Scandal is a prime example of this. Nixon wanted to keep his power, both in money and in presidency, and he followed what he thought was the best path to doing so. He ignored the possible consequences of being discovered and as a result threw America into fear and near chaos. He never gave thought to the effect discovering a corrupt president could have on America and its people until it was too late. But even small lapses can have an effect on many people. A teenager who decides to drink at a party forgets all the others who might be affected. When they are caught, their mother and father are humiliated and ashamed of their parenting, their siblings share the bad reputation, and their friends no longer know who they are. Thinking before doing, looking before leaping is necessary in keeping those around you from being hurt.