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Analysis Of Fear By Gabriel Chevallier

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To start of the novel Fear, by Gabriel Chevallier, Jean Dartemont is in France observing all the civilians celebrate the start of the new war. He criticizes their behavior and strongly disapproves, however, he admits a curiosity in him that convinces him to volunteer for the war for it will be a ‘remarkable spectacle.” After being approved to go to war, Dartemont heads to a training camp. There he becomes a private after failing to become an officer. Here he commands a group, but realized he finds the maintenance of soldiers to be tedious and useless work. Already he becomes quite eager to arrive at the front lines, which soon happens. Dartemont is sent to the front lines where he begins doing mundane tasks such as repairing trenches or …show more content…

He essentially is the communication between battalions, and also maps some of the trenches along the way. He is stationed first at Voges, an overwatch position in the mountains where he feels severely defeated and depressed by the war. He no longer has any kind of self-esteem and is not capable of complex thought. Things do not get better when he is moved to Chemin des Dames where the commander barely does anything. After a couple weeks there, he then returns to Vosges for awhile, and then spends his last couple months at places called Champagne and Alsace. At Champagne he is yet again a runner in a big defensive position. During an attack by the Germans, he accepts death, and in turn becomes “fearless,” one of the very few times it happens. Surviving this makes him want to live even more, which seems plausible because of the American troops that are now arriving. He then becomes involved in a regiment at Alsace where they are very optimistic of surviving the war. After a couple attacks here, the ceasefire is declared on the eleventh of November, in 1918. As the war ends he reflects what he and his fellow soldiers have been put through, and fears the people back at home will never understand the monstrosity that is war. As much as I thought I knew what war was like, the book Fear has showed me how wrong I was. I was aware that war was horrible, but not to the extent this book showed me. I thought more soldiers felt

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