Ethnicity and Intolerance "All Quiet on the Western Front"
In "All Quiet on the Western Front" Paul Baumer is a soldier for the German army in WWI. He is fighting the French, British, the United States, and the Russians (who are called the Allies). He was pressured by his school teacher to volunteer for the war when he was just ending school. In this book, Paul (the main character) and his friends (fellow soldiers) experience the war. Paul goes through a mental struggle trying to figure out who is wrong; the government or the enemy. Towards the end of the book, through his experiences, he comes to a conclusion that the government is wrong. He also comes to the conclusion that he has changed because of the war. When he visited his home on leave from the war, he could not talk about the war because it would bring back the memory of the terrible occurrences that happened in the war. At the end of the book, all of his friends die, are taken by the government for treason, or hurt and sent home. He becomes weak because of this. He ends up dead one month before the war ended. An army report stated "He fell in October 1918, on a day so quiet and still on the whole front, that the army report confined itself to the single sentence: All
Yes Paul's humanity has been stripped away by the war. His humanity has been stripped because of what he has seen, and experienced. He has been trained to rely on instinct when on the front. He has seen a lot of his comrades and other soldiers die slowly. With seeing this he has become solemn. Paul has lost his life because of the war. The war has changed him so much that he will probably not be able to have a normal life after the war. 1. What are the main themes of "All Quiet on the Western Front"? Paul writes as if he is writing in a journal. Paul wrights in first person in most of the book. Except for the last two paragraphs. These two paragraphs explain when and how he dies. When he wrights, he wrights what he thinks, what his conversations are about between him and other characters, and about what happened to him at the front. There are two themes of "All Quiet on the Western Front"; Antiwar and Ethnicity and Intolerance. The first theme, antiwar, is demonstrated by Paul's entry when he is at the training camp. "A word of command has made these silent figures our enemies; a word of command might transform them into our friends. At some table a document is signed be some persons whom none us knows, and then for years together that very crime on which formerly the worlds condemnation and severest penalty fall, becomes highest aim. But who can draw such a distinction when he looks at these quiet men with their childlike faces and apostles' beards. Any non-commissioned officer is more of an enemy to a recruit, any schoolmaster to a pupil, than they are to us. And yet we would shoot at them again and they at us if they were free." Paul examines the Russians, who were in the P.O.W. camp next to the camp in which Paul was at. He realizes that they are the same as him, human, and that they could one day be his comrades. So why would he want to kill them. He understands that the superior officers on both sides are the decision makers of a bunch of people. They have the power over the lives of these people. They could make a command for them to jump and run around in a circle. The second theme of "All Quiet on the Western Front" is Ethnicity and Intolerance. The theme Ethnicity is demonstrated by soldiers who have been to the front and the officers and leaders who have not been to the front. "At some table a document is signed be some persons whom none us knows, and then for years together that very crime on which formerly the worlds condemnation and severest penalty fall, becomes highest aim." The soldiers who have been to the front have a different to the officers and leaders who have been to the front because the soldiers have seen the horrible truth about war. They have become like a different culture. From what they have experienced or seen they have changed into different men and so has formed a different group from those who are in the army but never get to experience the war first-hand. The theme Intolerance is demonstrat
Some common words found in the essay are:
Ethnicity Intolerance, Detering Haie, United Russians, Yes Paul's, Russians POW, Western Front, Paul Baumer, quiet western front, western front, Quiet Western, quiet western, paul friends, war paul, word command, training camp, fear war, penalty fall aim, persons none, paul friends fear, document signed, none crime, signed persons none, enemies word command,
Approximate Word count = 1993
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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