Battlefields Of World War example essay topic

In general, All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque was an interesting novel. As compared to The Red Badge of Courage, another battlefield novel, All Quiet is a much more personal account of life on the battlefield, this time during World War I. The true emotions of protagonist Paul Ba " user were evident in the book, especially during the climax. At this point, Paul has a touching experience with French soldier G'erard Duval where he essentially realizes that everyone is human regardless of where they " re from or what cause they are fighting fore. The visions of death and destruction were also moving. It was interesting to see the contrast between the point of view in Johnny Got His Gun as compared to All Quiet on the Western Front. Johnny Got His Gun describes the hardships that can be experienced after engaging in combat, whereas All Quiet on the Western Front mainly describes what occurs on the battlefield.

There were a few parts of the story that I found especially interesting. The first was the incident involving Kemmerich's boots. Kemmerich is a friend of Paul's who loses his leg to gangrene. Another one of their friends, M"uller, wants the boots if Kemmerich should die. This may seem greedy and wrong, but really Kemmerich isn't being insensitive because realistically he won't need his boots anymore.

Later, M"uller dies which is ironic because he took the boots from a dead man. Another enjoyable situations is when the guys cross the river to see the French girls. It was interesting to see the soldiers in a human light opposed to just seeing them as trained killing machines. My absolute favorite part of the book, though, was when Paul returned home to visit his family.

His reaction to his father's questions, and his mother's illness along with the comments of the people in his town are a refreshing change from the descriptions of the war front. At home he realizes that you can take the soldier out of the war but you can't take the war out of the soldier. Also, Corporal Himmel stoss is originally presented as being a cruel and insensitive man. However, later in the novel he is seen as a true human when he and Paul jump into the same hole and he is the one to break down because he is utterly terrified. This shows that regardless of how a person initially comes across, when put in a life-threatening situation they contain the same human emotions as everyone else. From a historical perspective, the descriptions of the gas bombs and their effects on the soldiers are interesting.

It truly makes you appreciate the sacrifices that soldiers make to protect their countries, which is universal. Even though this is written from the German perspective an American can appreciate it as well and it can be applied to each and every war. Although I probably would not read this book again it was enlightening, even if it was not necessarily enjoyable. I think that Remarque presents the battlefields of World War I in an accurate way and does not try to spare the reader of any of the atrocities of war.