~Jonas Ahlgren, Class of 2024

“In comradeship is danger countered best.”

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

It took long sessions of sitting at my desk to finish reading All Quiet on the Western Front. Many times I hunched over my iPad, eyes darting back and forth to finish reading a chapter due the next day. Expressions of thought on my face as I annotated and wrote reflections. A smile on my face as I finished the incredibly long chapter I had been reading. All of this is a telltale sign of a student hard at work. At last my hard work had paid off, and I was able to write about themes of war and comradeship. 

The horror of war is inescapable. In All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, the horror of the war takes a toll on Paul and his comrades. War is nothing like Paul and his comrades could imagine. Paul Kat and Kropp are exposed to unthinkable horrors. In Chapter 10 after Paul has broken his leg in battle. He and Kropp, who has also been injured, travel to a hospital to heal. In the hospital, they lay among the wounded and the dying. They see countless horrific injuries. 

And this is only one hospital, one single station; there are hundreds of thousands in Germany, hundreds of thousands in France, hundreds of thousands in Russia. How senseless is everything that can ever be written, done, or thought, when such things are possible… these torture-chambers in their hundreds of thousands. A hospital alone shows what war is. [Chapter 10. ]

Paul must survive through hopeless times in the hospital; he must expect nothing better and block out the horrors that surround him; he must persevere. By Chapter 11, Paul is one of the last of his comrades. One by one his closest friends have died in countless ways. Paul is back out on the front. The war looks bleak, and many soldiers have lost all hope. There is more death and destruction than ever. “Dysentery, influenza, typhus—scalding, choking, death. Trenches, hospitals, the common grave—there are no other possibilities.” [Chapter 11.] A horrific death is almost inevitable for Paul and his friends; there is a fine line between life and death on the front, and the war brings countless ways to die. Paul and his friends must stand against incredible odds. They are small in the face of modern war.

Without comradeship we would be lost. In All Quiet on the Western Front, the only thing Paul has left are his friends. The war has ravaged Paul. The only comfort he receives is from his companions. In Chapter 2, while Paul and his friends lay behind the violence of the front, they are tormented by Corporal Himmelstoss. They are livid at how he treats them. They find that the hardships they face during this time are better faced together.

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 and his friends grow closer through hard times; they have bonded over the struggles of battle, and, most importantly, they are there for each other. In Chapter 11, Paul and Kat are the only ones left of the small group of comrades. Paul, Kat, and their now-dead friends have been fighting tirelessly on the front. When Kat is wounded Paul must carry him back to the dressing station. Paul talks to Kat as he carries his last and only friend. “The anguish of solitude rises up in me. When Kat is taken away I will not have one friend left. “Kat, in any case we must see one another again.” [Chapter 11.] Paul knows he doesn’t have much left; he knows his comrades are the only thing holding him together, and, if he loses him, he will have nothing left. Paul must survive the war, but he knows only comradeship protects his mortal shell.

You never learn and grow from something that doesn’t stretch you. Reading All Quiet on the Western Front taught me how to learn from a challenging piece of literature through deep thinking and identifying themes. When I started reading All Quiet on the Western Front, I did not expect to find it any more interesting than any other book assigned by school. I did not believe I would enjoy reading it very much. This was my first book I read with Fitz’s annotation techniques, and while having to write reflections and summaries of every chapter seemed an impossible task, after a few chapters I realized it was helping me understand and gather deeper meaning from the book. By then I came to the realization that I took more out of this book than any other book I had read in school. I also learned invaluable techniques for reading and annotating. While a lot of the book seems incredibly unrelatable, looking deeper we can all relate a little bit to it. The horrors of war may not be something we can all relate to, but I found that the theme of camaraderie must have some meaning for all of us. 

Despite the reading not always being easy or fun, I know that I took away important skills and pulled thoughtful and deep themes from the book, which may change my thinking about the world and perhaps how I approach more books. Reading this book reminded me how important and impactful reading can be. 

Even though the reading was a challenge, I know I put that aside and made the most of it; I persevered through the hard parts; I stayed upbeat through it all. That much, I am proud of.