~Joe Galante, Class of 2024

The Horrors of War and Comradery

“War is what happens when language fails.” 

~ Margaret Atwood

It was a sad, cold Sunday night in my room. I was sitting at my desk, staring at the long lines of text; All Quiet on the Western Front on my iPad. This book was one of the most tricky I had ever read, so I was having trouble annotating it. I was starting to get focused, and about ten minutes later, I was completely locked in. Simply nothing existed for me at this moment. Not time, people, sound, nothing. Only finding themes for my essay in this piece of reading was relevant to me. In the end of my annotation of All Quiet on the Western Front, I found the themes of the horrors of war and comradery, and I learned that rigorous activities can make a valuable time.

War is the death of all happiness. In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, war kills all of the leftover happiness out of all the soldiers.In these sections of the text, we see Paul killing a man in a bunker shell to survive,  and Paul calling the front a “whirlpool.” In chapter 9 of All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul is in a bunker shell at enemy lines, and he has just killed a man with his own hands. We hear him say,

“This is the first time I have killed with my hands, whom I can see close at hand, whose death is my doing. Kat and Kropp and Müller have experienced it already, when they have hit someone; it happens to many, in hand-to-hand fighting especially— But every gasp lays my heart bare. This dying man has time with him, he has an invisible dagger with which he stabs me: Time and my thoughts.” [Chapter 9]

Paul is visibly terrified by his actions; he has never killed a man by hand. Paul feels as if the man “has an invisible dagger,” and it stabs at him, not only his body, but his time and thoughts. Paul is left to live with his actions, leaving the former man as nothing more than a memory.  In chapter 4 of All Quiet on the Western Front, It is the next day and Paul wakes up after hearing the words, “There will be a bombardment” from Kat, and says, 

“To me the front is a mysterious whirlpool. Though I am in still water far away from its centre, I feel the whirl of the vortex sucking me slowly, irresistibly, inescapably into itself.” [chapter 4] 

Paul feels as if he is fighting in a vortex; moreover, it feels like “a mysterious whirlpool” sucking him in, and it’s almost like it’s sucking him “irresistibly, inescapably into itself.” When Paul steps into the front, he loses the life in him. All the happiness that was there before is now sucked away by the front. Here, Paul experiences the scary warfare of WW1, and is fighting to survive every second of his life.

Comrades shine through brutal experiences. In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, we see Paul’s friendship with his friends, Muller, Kroop, Kemmerick, and Kat, shine through the brutal, dismoriling war. In these sections of the text, we see Paul getting closer with his soldiers, and Paul growing a connection to Kat. In Chapter 2 in All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul and the rest of the soldiers were forced on their hands and knees, while having orders barked at them, as they stayed there sweating. Then Paul said,

“Had we gone into the trenches without this period of training most of us would certainly have gone mad. Only thus were we prepared for what awaited us. We did not break down, but adapted ourselves; our twenty years, which made many another thing so grievous, helped us in this. But by far the most important result was that it awakened in us a strong, practical sense of esprit de corps, which in the field developed into the finest thing that arose out of the war—comradeship.” [Chapter 2]

Paul is given help by comradery; it was an important role in his training. In Paul and his soldiers’ training, comradeship helped them raise their moods in dark times. Paul begins to see, “the finest thing that arose out of the war—comradeship,” which awakened a strong sense of spirit in the soldiers.

 In Chapter 5 in All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul and Kat are hiding from airplanes trying to track them down. We hear that “the tack-tack of machine-guns breaks out.” [Chapter Five] Paul then says,

“We sit opposite one another, Kat and I, two soldiers in shabby coats, cooking a goose in the middle of the night. We don’t talk much, but I believe we have a more complete communion with one another than even lovers have.“ [Chapter Five] 

Paul is experiencing a deep connection with Kat; moreover, He feels as if they “have a more complete communion,” with each other, and Paul feels that it is even more complete, “Than even lovers have.” Paul feels strongly connected to Kat like no other soldier. This connection could bring back some of Paul’s happiness while he is fighting in the war. Here, Paul feels connected to his soldiers like nobody else, and comrades in war lifting each other’s strength.

Reflection

Rigorous activities can make a valuable time. All Quiet on the Western Front made me think harder, work harder, and push myself to my limits to find all of the details and themes in the long, but worthwhile, novel. While I was reading All Quiet on the Western Front, I was faced with the obstacle of reading for a longer time than I would normally read, and had me reading in more of an engaged way; taking notes and analyzing the text for themes. I learned at the conclusion of the novel that, although the reading was rigorous, I enjoyed it in the end. When I began reading All Quiet on the Western Front, I saw it as an annoying chore I had to complete. 

I was tasked with finding key themes in the novel and gathering quotes to support them with evidence. But later, when I had gotten far into the book, I started to look at it more favorably. I found good ways to find themes and quotes, and even strategies on how to read for longer amounts of time. 

In the end, I had found all of my themes and quotes, and all the troubles were worth it. When reading All Quiet on the Western Front, I noticed all of the times Paul and the soldiers were fighting for their lives, going through rigorous challenges to achieve their goals of winning the war. This reminded me of my goal, finding themes and quotes from the novel. 

Although these goals may be different, I need to push through challenges in order to overcome them. While I was starting to read this book, I was thinking, “Who would ever want to read this rigorously hard book!” Now, though, I say, “Although the book may be rigorous, still read All Quiet on the Western Front. It will be a valuable experience.”