War Changes People example essay topic

"All Quiet On The Western Front" World War I was a fierce and very disturbing time for many people. During war people will stretch their own personal boundaries and limits just to stay alive. Although every solider was someone's son, by the end of the war this was not a factor. By thinking of an enemy as less then human, the act of killing someone " ss on was a little easier on the minds of each soldier. To everyday people it is apparent that the war changes people, but the extent of the change is not so easy to see. This change is symbolized in the movie, "All Quiet On The Western Front".

At the beginning of the movie, Paul Baume r and his friends were excited about the war. Their teacher Mr. Kantor ek, had put a theory in their heads that war was a patriotic duty. If you loved and wanted to support your country, then going to war was a must. With this theory in your head, the act of war is a very difficult thing to handle. Paul realized that war was a horrible place to be.

Yes you were fighting for your country, but at the same time all of your friends and family were dying around you. In the end was it really worth it? This was the question that ended up on Paul's mind, and was a question that would not be soon to leave his conscience. Paul was a good boy.

He had a good education, was a non-smoker, and had many friends. His teacher was amazed at the fact that he didn't smoke. Many people around him did smoke, but yet he stuck to the promise that he made to himself, and he did not smoke. In the middle of the war he returned home. While he was there he visited his old teacher. Mr. Kant oreck, offered him a cigarette, when Paul declined, he told him that the habit was disgusting and that he should never start doing it!

By the end of the movie Paul was smoking. The war had changed him. He didn't care whether or not they were bad for him. The fact was that his theories and own personal values had been altered by the war. Losing a limb would be a horrible ordeal to have to experience.

At the beginning of the war, this might of a trauma that a person would not be able to overcome. By the middle of the war, if you lost a leg you were considered lucky. When you are in a situation where you have to fight for your life everyday, losing a leg would be nothing at all, at least you could still shoot a gun and eat a meal with your hands. Get real, it would be horrifying, but the disillusion that war put on soldiers led them to believe that if you lost your leg you should consider yourself lucky. "All Quiet On The Western Front" was a very realistic story about the hardships of war (WWI) and the effects that it had on all people, not just the soldiers. Throughout the movie the effects that WWI had on the soldiers was apparent.

Soldiers lives were forever changed, non-smokers came back smokers, ideas of nationalism came back ruined, and the horrors of losing a leg was just merely a story of a "lucky" day. Personal boundaries were stretched, best friends were lost, and innocent lives were taken in a dreadful era called World War I.