All Quiet On The Western Front Examples Of Personification

During the war, many soldiers may feel as though they are losing their self-identity. Having that one person they can confide in, who share the same troubles, tends to be one of the few things that helps them manage the chaos of battle. Thus, camaraderie is the key to survival during the time of war. The classic war novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, written by Erich Maria Remarque, illustrates an image of comradeship through the narrator Paul Baumer and his close friend Kat. The scenes throughout the novel between the two friends show how heavily they rely on one another.

This passage is a wonderful example of an opening description of setting. It fits into the structure of the novel by giving the audience a first look at the setting, using imagery and descriptive language to create a picture in the reader’s mind. The author begins using a comparison between hygienic modern bathrooms and the soldiers’ open view. He later uses personification when he writes, “The wind plays with our hair; it plays with our words and thoughts,” (Remarque 9). His calm and carefree diction adds to the peaceful mood.

Henry is trying to show how one’s default or natural response to the hardships they were facing at the hands of British rule might be to turn their head the other way.

First, one should focus on the language and Henry's ethos. The soldiers are burdened with the thought of a

Crane defines courage as "a temporary but sublime absence of selflessness," I think Henry experienced a temporary but not sublime absence of consciousness. In battle I think he was acting more like a machine than himself. "Henry ran like a madman to reach the woods before a bullet could discover him...In his haste his eyes almost closed, and the scene was a wild blur...pulsating saliva stood at the corners of his mouth."(Crane Ch. 20) He was acting out of fear, thus he wasn't truly himself in his actions. The one main reason Henry fled in the beginning is because he feared death. When you act out of fear you become more mechanical in your actions. A hero doesn't flee from battle and try to rationalize their actions by lying to

Henry shows heroic traits fighting in the war. At the beginning of the story Henry runs to the woods, by the end of the book Henry fights and it turns out he actually likes fighting. This quote shows heroic traits by showing Henry actually fought. He like fighting and should not have ran the first time. Henry almost regrets running the first time.“He had fought like a pagan who defends his religion. Regarding it, he saw that it was fine, wild, and, in some ways, easy.” (Cane ) This quote proves that when Henry started fighting he liked and and he fought like a beast. This is not the only instance in which Henry shows heroic qualities.

In the beginning of the book, the author describes Henry’s beliefs about the war. He thinks war is about the glory soldiers receive or dying a hero’s death. As he gets into the first battle, he is suddenly faced with the reality. Passing be dead soldiers and watching the battle before him causes Henry to flee. As he is running away, he happens to stumble upon a rotting corpse, this makes the realities become even more clear. Shaken from the encounter, he moves on.

The quote occurs after Henry fled from battle. It shows that he believes running away was the right thing to do even if he left his friends to fight. Henry believes that saving himself was more important than standing and fighting with his regiment.

An anti-war novel often portrays many of the bad aspects and consequences of war. Erich Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel set in the First World War that is against war. Remarque describes the terrible reality of the war, focusing on the horrors and involved. The novel portrays an anti-war perspective as it brings up issues about the brutality of war, the narrator’s change of attitude towards war, the futility of war and the deaths of the narrator’s friends.

Henry has his way of persuading his idea of government. He shows pathos in many different ways he uses metaphors to compare men to machines. He says "Now, what are they? Men at all? Or small movable forts and magazines at the service of some unscrupulous man in power?" (disobedience3). This black art called war all started because we humans can't learn to be aware each person's need of love and sharing and forgiveness. The mistakes made always seemed to need to be punished, but they should be taught to learn from it not to lose from it. We could all have justice if it was easy to talk about what goes on in our minds. For me, I ask questions in my mind. Henry uses Hypophora in his essay. Asking questions that can have multiple answers but has his own answer. He questions "Why has every man a conscience then? I think that we should be men first and subjects afterward" (disobedience2). He is pretty upset that we allow the government to take our power away. Henry exclaims "It does not keep the country free. It does not settle the West. It does not educate. The character inherent in the American people has done somewhat more if the government had not sometimes got in its way" (disobedience2). Henry seems pissed off because the government was thought to be useful but really is a

Initially, he found “a little panic-fear grew in his mind” (Crane 6), raising his level of anxiety about how he would react when the first shots of battle exploded around him. Eventually fear engulfed him and he “threw down his gun and fled” (Crane 30). In this moment, Henry realized how his fear drove him toward the cowardly act of desertion. However, the next day, Henry finds his fear replaced with a “wild hate for the relentless foe” (Crane 70) who would not allow him to rest. Regardless of the selfish cause of Henry’s rising anger, the results were a newly lit fire fueling his drive to battle the enemy. The transformation of Henry’s fear into vengeful anger allowed him to act as the courageous soldier he always desired to

folk.” From the start of the war, these young men were robbed of their idealism, and

“The Youth,” which Henry is referred to as, dreamt of glory in battle and being a hero (Crane 2). That is the reason why Henry enlisted himself; even though he told his comrades he was forced to be in the army. His mother’s farewell speech is ironic because he thought that she would give him a tearful and long speech, but all she really said was to “Watch out, and be a good boy” (4). She does not want Henry to be a hero even though that is what he went to war for. She told Henry that she will be fine if he does not return home. Henry tries to pull off being a confident and good soldier, while in the reality he is very nervous about what will happen in battle. Throughout the novel, he questions his courage and if he would run from battle. At an early battle, Henry continuously fires at the enemy line and feels like he is a courageous soldier. However, soon after this battle, another one erupts and Henry runs from it. This is

In the following battle, another test of his manhood, Henry flees from his regiment along with a few soldiers near him. War is defined as a “blood-swollen god”, this is far from the romantic view he held at the first stage of his development (Crane, 23). He is ashamed to admit his fear to himself and brands himself a criminal. He is forced to hide in the forest so that he is not noticed by his crew. He attempts to justify his reaction by testing a squirrel. He tests the squirrel by throwing a pine cone at it to see if it will run, and it does (Crane, 44). This proves to himself that it is simply instinctive to run when your life is threatened. He soon

Henry's fears take over, and his only way to achieve his self comfort again is to run away from the battle. Henry uses the forest to calm himself. The forest is where he begins to overcome his selfish ways, he reflects back on the battle and the men, and starts to believe that he can be of help to one or more of the men in the regiment. Henry eventually wins over the fear and joins with another regiment to fight against the rebels.