Paul's Closest Friends example essay topic

World War I was one of the worst wars that has ever taken place. All Quiet On The Western Front, written by Erich Maria Remarque, truly described what the war was really like. Paul Baume r, the main character, enlisted in the war at a very young age with the rest of his classmates. Throughout the story Paul experienced many horrors such as seeing his closest friends die, living in unsanitary conditions, and losing his own identity. Paul, having lived so long in the war, saw many of his closest friends die. Kemmerich, one of Paul's classmates, had his leg amputated at the beginning of the war.

Paul says, Kemmerich groans. He is feverish. We get hold of an orderly outside and ask him to give Kemmerich a dose of morphia. (17) Paul said that he died an extremely painful, senseless death.

Paul has an extremely hard time telling his mother the truth about her son. Kropp, another one of Paul's classmates, suffers a slight wound on his leg and it is amputated. Paul arranges to recuperate in the same hospital so he could be with him. Paul says, I manage to slip the major two of my cigars with belly bands, and then tip the word to him. (244) Paul tries everything to be with Kropp so he is not alone.

But, eventually he does not make it and he dies. Kat, a resourceful, inventive 40 year old, with a family at home becomes one of Paul's closest friends. He always managed to find food, clothing, and blankets whenever his friends needed them. He got a wound in the leg and it had bleed quickly. Paul tries to carry him to safety. Paul says, Kat isn t very heavy; so I ll take him up on my back and start off to the dressing station with him.

(287) Even when Paul is injured himself, he still tries to be the best friend that he could be. But while Paul is carrying Kat he gets hit by bullet fragments without him knowing and he dies. Paul is extremely heart broken. Everyday the soldiers have to live with horrifying living conditions.

After so many days in the trenches all the dead bodies would add up. The living soldiers had to live with the rats feeding off the dead bodies just like hawks on a dead animal. Besides all the rats they also had to deal with lice. Paul says, The little beasts are hard and the everlasting cracking of one's fingernails very soon becomes wearisome. (75) The lice were so bad that T jaden scraped them off with a wire in to a boot-polish tin. He killed them by heating the tin with the flame.

While in the trenches they had to stack up the dead bodies and lay on them. There was nowhere to put them so they just stayed on top of them. It defiantly took a lot of guts to stay in the trenches. Throughout the war Paul came to realize that he really didn t know who he was anymore.

He expected home to be perfect when he got there. But when he came back he realized he had changed and didn t even know it. Everybody treated him so different. His mother was just asking a simple question and he goes off on her. Paul says.

Mother, what should I answer that! You would not understand, you could never realize it. And you shall never realize it. (161) Before the war he was never like that to his mother and now after the war he is very impatient. Also his dad always asked him questions about the war and he didn t want to talk about it cause he didn t know who he really was. The lost generation was all the young men who enrolled in the war.

They were treated horribly and he wished he never tried to be somebody he wasn t. All Quiet On The Western Front was an extraordinary book. It actually made me realize what war was really like. I could never even imagine what it would have been like to experience it.

Paul gave some examples of what happened in the war that were so unbelievable. I have learned so much from this book and I have so much more respect for the people who actually fought in it.