Life Of A Soldier In World War example essay topic

All Quiet On The Western Front, written by Erich Maria Remarque, takes place in France during World War I. Paul Baume r, the narrator, was a young man who was fighting for his country, Germany. Paul was only 18 years old when the book first begins. Remarque starts the story with Paul and all of the soldiers in his company just finished with heavy front line fighting against the English and the French. He goes on in the story to explain the life of a soldier in World War. Sometimes it was scary, funny, sad, boring, dirty, upsetting, life-threatening, but throughout ones company there was a special togetherness between the menin that company. Paul was a young man just out of school when he enlisted to fight for "the Fatherland", Germany.

One of his good childhood friends, Franz K emmerich, volunteers with him to become a soldier and becomes Paul's first experience with death when he dies from a leg amputation early in the war. Paul sat by him and watched him slowly pass away and realizes that war is real and brutal. Paul finds comfort with the other men in his company including Albert Kropp, Muller, and T jaden; but the most important fellow soldier was Kat. Hew as a veteran soldier who knew how to survive in a war and with loss. He gave lots of advice and support to Paul during these rough times. The setting of this story takes place in France and Germany during the years 1916-1918.

Remarque, the author was a veteran soldier in World War I, and he had experienced all of what Paul goes through. He vividly illustrates life in the trenches. I could picture the dirt, the mud, the earth, the rats. I could imagine the shells going over my head missing my trench by inches, and he bullets whistling by my ears and just missing me. He explains how you may have long days off with no fighting and you have plenty of time on your hands to where the next day you get no sleep and are shooting for hours at a time. Both the fighting and the down time help these men create a camaraderie that only they understand between each other.

This bond between them comes about because of many different reasons. One of these reasons is because they are fighting on the same "team" against an enemy (the French and English). And if they want to accomplish their goals they have to depend on each other to do so. They are a team, a family, a company and if one of them makes a mistake it can effect everyone. Another reason for their bonding is they are all caught in the same nightmare of war.

For Instance Corporal Himmel stoss is a drill instructor who bullies soldiers with his power, and makes their life miserable. Their hatred for him helps them bond together. The way this war was fought was frustrating and senseless. Armies would kill and wound hundreds often gaining literally inches of land. It seemed no one knew the point of each battle, and their was no leadership by either side. To distract themselves from the ordeals they often found fun in playing jokes and games on fellow soldiers.

They would play lots of card games. They also created some of their own games with some objects that were around them like rats and head lice. When Paul went home on leave, this bonding from the war made him feel out of place and lonely. He loved his family but could not relate to his old life.

When Paul enlisted in the army he had just finished school. He did not have a job or wife or children to return to and he often wondered what would happen to him when the war was over. When Paul goes back from his leave he feels a certain amount of relief to be back with his company. After finding his friends they soon have a chance of seeing the Kaiser Germany's leader. After seeing this man who has led them into this horrifying war they start talking about what started this war. One soldier said "But would I would like to know, is whether there would not have been a war if the Kaiser had said No".

Another said "It's queer when one thinks about it we are here to protect our fatherland And the French are over there to protect their fatherland. Now who is in the right?"Yes". continues another one, "But our professors and parsons and newspapers say that we are the only ones that are right and lets hope so. But the French professors and parsons and newspapers say that the right is on their side, now what about that?" Remarque explains that no one really knows why the war was being fought and no one could think of a good reason for it. And this is the main theme of this novel. Remarque takes a young man and who wants to help his country's cause in this " Great War". If everyone knew the realities of war no one would want to participate because it is so horrible.

So, to get people to join in a war they use different methods of persuasion. This includes "fighting for the fatherland,"fighting for right,"fighting for democracy", and "fighting for the Holland". The leaders of these causes want to bring the people together to fight for this cause and use methods of propaganda and media to support their ideas. This is how Paul gets caught up in this conflict. Remarque takes the reader on a journey to the realities of war. He uses Paul to show us what it is like to be a young confused man caught in the nightmare that war is.

We see the physical hardships, the brutality, the destruction of the land and towns, but most importantly the devastation of human life. Nothing was gained from the this war. Millions of lives were lost and or destroyed. Paul's story is a powerful argument to prove that wars are pointless and only bring about ruined lives and destruction. This story has made me look at things in a different way.

I am close to the same age as Paul was at the beginning of the story and it is possible that I could someday be drafted into the military. I hope after reading this book I never do get drafted because of the mental and physical hardships of war. And I hope that their is some way we can stop war all together so people and their families can stop being destroyed.