All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque

In chapter ten Paul and the others have the luxury of guarding a supply dump. They get to eat and sleep as much as they want. It's different from earlier chapters in the sense that the soldiers are able to feel human again, and actually enjoy themselves. They plan a large dinner where they have collected eggs, fresh vegetables, and two suckling pigs. The enemy sees the smoke coming from the house where they are cooking their meal and they bomb it. It almost seems comical as the soldiers make a mad dash with their food to the trench. Paul stays behind to finish making the pancakes, they are his favorite and he fears if he dies he will never be able to eat them again. I think it is interesting because while they risk their lives in the war they are also willing to risk their lives for a decent meal. I think it is funny that they weren't used to eating all of that food that they encountered diarrhea through out the night. Next Paul and Kropp are wounded by a falling shell. Kropp is so distraught about having his leg amputated that he wants to commit suicide. While they are in the hospital it becomes a scary reality of all the injuries that the soldiers face in warfare. What is truly alarming is that Paul's feeling is that to understand the war people should visit a hospital. Paul believes that all of these shattered bodies are nothing but despair, death, fear, and sorrow that could have been prevented. Paul again is sent on leave. He visits his mother again who is becoming weaker. He then returns once more to the line and he is separated from Kropp. Paul shows no emotion really, he feels like men become use to these things in the army which is sad because it shows that all of the horror the soldiers live through must really repress their feelings or they will loose their mind. I think it is almost as if they become numb to everything. Once again it becomes apparent how the war takes basically everything human from the young men. As I try to imagine what that would be like. It is so disturbing that I can hardly believe these things really happened.

All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque

Chapter eleven focuses on the fact that the war has gone on for so long. The soldiers no longer count the weeks. The comparison that Paul makes about the war being like cancer and tuberculosis is interesting to me because sickness and cancers are not by choice. Death because of the war could have been prevented. Only the higher up made the decision and the majority of the people would not have agreed. Paul compares themselves to animals because the instinct simply helps them watch against death. Paul describes how they become beat down day after day, not only physically but mentally too. It becomes imaginable that one might go crazy and "crack" as Detering did simply because he saw cherry trees that reminded him of home. It also becomes apparent that they are losing the war but they keep sending young men. Death surrounds them. It seems like a country's reputation is more important than all the lives that were sacrificed. The images about the summer of 1918 are so vivid that it is hard to imagine anyone having to live or die through all of the horror of the war. The chapter ends with Paul losing his best friend. This makes me feel sad because Paul and Kat were very close and their friendship helped them get through difficult times. Almost everyone knows what it is like to have a best friend like Kat was to Paul and loosing someone so close would be awful and that's why I empathize how Paul felt at this moment in the book.

All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque

As chapter twelve opens it is Autumn. It appears calm, and there is talk of peace and armistice. Paul sadly is the only one left out of seven men from his group. Paul seems to despair all of the things like the greed of life, love, and home but it seems as if he has no desire to enjoy all of these things anymore. I think it is sad that young men are called to war, they have no choice. They are stripped of practically their existence, because all they know is how to be a soldier hoping to escape death continually. It is also interesting that Paul's perspective on the experience of war will lead to the years passing by and the war will be forgotten. He also feels like he will be alienated from future generations and their lack of understanding.  From this he feels they can take nothing more from him. He is alone and without hope. This makes me wonder why is there war at all? In the end it produces nothing more than death, despair, and a disconnection from society. In recent years we hear about PTSS (post traumatic stress syndrome) which has been medically recognized for so many soldiers. In a sense Paul and the other soldiers went through in the book.