Paul Baumer's Loss Of Hope

The deaths of friends and acquaintances in the war makes those who survive place more value on their own lives. After Kemmerich's death, Bäumer feels a new-found vigor for his own life, "I breathe the air deeply. The night lives, I live. I feel a hunger, greater than comes from the belly alone" (33). Because of the vast amount of death and destruction, Bäumer and his fellow surviving comrades "have to take things as lightly as we can, so we make the most of every opportunity" (232). Bäumer sees the value of his own life and is cognoscente of how important it is to survive, no matter what it entails. "We lie under the network of arching shells and live in a suspense of uncertainty," says Baumer, "It is...a matter of chance that I am

The psychological effects, the mentality of fighting and killing another human, and the sheer decimation of human values is what makes war atrocious. War is not only fought on the battlefield though. This book also describes the feelings of a soldier fighting his own demons that war has brought on. The battle that the soldier has with himself, is almost if not more damaging than the physical battle of war. He will never forget his experience with battle, no matter how hard he tries the memories of artillery, blood, and death cannot be erased. “I prayed like you to survive, but look at me now. It is over for us who are dead, but you must struggle, and will carry the memories all your life. People back home will wonder why you can't forget.” (Sledge). This struggle still happens to soldiers today. Sledge’s words of the struggles still captures the effects of warfare that lingers today. The other effects that war has on the men is the instability that surrounds them at every hour of the day. They are either engaged in battle having bullets and artillery fired at them, or waiting for battle just so they can be deposited back in the pressure cooker of survival. “Lying in a foxhole sweating out an enemy artillery or mortar barrage or waiting to dash across open ground under machine-gun or artillery fire defied any concept of time.”

            Baümer has "grown accustomed to it. War is the cause of death like influenza and dysentery.  The deaths are merely more frequent, more varied and terrible."  He has rid himself of all feelings and thoughts.  His emotions lie buried in the earth along with the soldiers who fell prey to them.  His dullness protects him from going mad at the sight of a slaughtered comrade or butchered friend.  He wants to live at all costs so "every expression of his life must serve one purpose and one purpose only, preservation of existence, and he is absolutely focused on that" (page #).  The cost of life is the death of his emotions; his survival depends on it."  Every shell that falls, every shot that fires, a soldier must face the possible certainty of death.  To Baumer, death carries hand grenades, a bayonet and a rifle to take away what he has long protected -- his life.

The soldiers face loneliness, isolation, the heavy burden of fear, and the weight of their reputations. The soldiers carry such a heavy weight from the past, in the present, and for the future. Even after the war, the psychological burdens the men carried during the war continues to define them. Those who survive the war carry guilt, grief, and confusion.

War, no matter how long or brief, can have a tremendous impact upon a person’s

Usually, a war is won when one side surrenders, but those outcomes do not make everything better. Paul realizes war sets, people against one another” and men have to innocently slay [each] other” (Remarque 262). Men slaying each other happens to be a dark horror of the brutality of war which cannot be avoided because they are forced to do so. The front line consists of the troops closest to the enemy and carries out the most horrific brutalities of the war. Bäumer and his squad are on the front line and experience things most human beings should never have to see. In the summer of 1918, most men know they are losing the war and cannot win. Paul has lost many comrades and the true horror of war makes everything much worse. The German forces are being driven back and the soldiers are fatigued. All over the place are “yellow pools with red spiral streams of blood” which the “dead, wounded, and survivors” slowly sink into (Remarque 286). These settings have made this part of the war a true monstrosity for the soldiers. They cannot keep on fighting as this darkness rules over any hope of fighting back. The horrors of war are never experienced by most human beings but will be by soldiers who are usually not prepared for them. Losing fellow comrades, experiencing the brutality of combat, and the horrific nature of war are true horrors which most soldiers will

In the book All Quiet On the Western Front, Paul Baumer, a young school boy, and his friends are persuaded to join the German Army in the midst of World War I. While in a school classroom, Paul’s teacher goes on and on about the glories of war and the valor that comes with the name soldier. In a burst of pride, the class of school boys rush to enlist in the army at their first chance, with no second thoughts. What the men didn’t understand is that war does terrible things to a boy, a man, a country, and a world. People can do horrible things to each other, and so can war. War can be seen as the hero of a devastating situation to some, but to others, war is the instrument of their destruction.

In the book, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, proves that the consequence of war is devastation. During the war, soldiers combat each other resulting in horrific and gruesome deaths that have a lasting long term effect on the young men, both mentally and physically. This devastating affect on the soldiers creates loneliness, depression, and anxiety due to the scarring acts that go on. These types of psychological haunt the men for the rest of their lives. In the book, Paul, whom is the main character that joined the war, is talking to his comrades, Albert, Kropp, Muller about what they would do after the war, but then Paul discusses how their perspectives have changed from before and after the war… “ We are cut off from

War is dreary. when a soldier goes off to war it changes him to never be the same person ever again. Paul Baumer captures this aspect of war in multiple excerpts in his novel all quiet on the western front. In one of the passages describing the storm thundering on the german front Baumer captures the depression and hopelessness of the soldier's condition through his use of diction describing the depression and loss of identity of the soldiers experience on the front.

The initial dehumanizing that the enemy soldiers undergo in the eyes of the main group of soldiers is evidence of the psychological changes that have to occur in a soldier’s mind to justify his actions. The events of Remarque’s novels include extreme acts of violence that the soldiers justify by erasing the similarities between themselves and this “other” group of people, which allows them to kill with less remorse and less hesitation. On the other hand, Ferguson’s second argument is not strongly supported by the novel because of the graphic depictions of horrific violence as well as the discomfort, displeasure, and disgust expressed by the main characters about having to fight in a war suggest that war is far the fun Ferguson suggests. Also, when Bäumer returns home to visit his family, he finds himself alienated from the rest of society by what he has experienced; his PTSD causing him to lose the joy he previously found in the simple pleasures of civilian life. This description of a lack of purpose and ability to connect with people outside of the battlefield suggests that the horrors of war far out way to the potential thrill of the fight. It is entirely possible and not disproven by the novel that some men may have joined the military to kill because they enjoy it, but the novel suggests that most of the soldiers have joined under the false pretenses of honor or adventure, like Bäumer and his

Men in war would spend weeks, months, and even years with each other, and they would become genuinely close. Paul Baumer says of his comrades: “They are more to me than life, these voices, these quiet words” (Remarque 212). When Paul Baumer and his friends were reunited, there was a peace of mind in the soldiers. Despite the sound of bombs overhead, the soldiers felt calm and all was right because they were together. Soldiers would march in blocks side by side to go to places. During the night while marching, the men would let each other know of the dangers in front of them: “From ahead come warnings: ‘Look out, deep shell-hole on the left’-‘Mind, trenches’” (58). They knew they could not protect each other from everything, but were mindful

Child of the Bodom once said, “I got the one, the dream of horror! Dreams of blood, dreams of war! Rudest eyes have seen the fright, welcome to the eternal night!” Throughout history, there has been many horrific wars and tragic events that have happened. Most of them have been life changing to the world. The rapid and advance changes of technology and the positive workforce changes for women have caused this world to be a better place. War has greatly affected the human being’s individual itself. The reality and truth of war causes individuals to commit acts of cruelty towards each other, to struggle to keep their faith, and to die emotionally.

One of the main themes Miguel Syjoc has portrayed in his short story is how people are affected by war. War can have a catastrophic effect on the health and wellbeing of people. Coming home from a war environment is not easy, and it poses a series of challenges that are unique from anything else you can experience. Many individuals don't understand that they have spent the majority of their lives dawdling and all of a sudden it is past the point where it is not possible to make a move, and their lives are squandered away. This is two of the issues we see in Syjuco’s short story, be here now.

Once again, I knew war was greatly influenced by Psychology, however, I never truly paid attention to it until this week’s reading probably due to the fact that I never experienced War. My views concerning Psychology’s involvement in war have been mostly negative and I always have been against it. However, a couple quotes in the readings convinced me as to why so many psychologists engaged in such an evil pathology. As an example, Richards (2010) mentioned that War “provides a hot- house environment in which virtually the entire range of Psychology’s interests are both co-opted in the service of the national interest and, in the process, given specific orientations and social functions” (p. 369). I believe that all the sub disciplines in Psychology benefited from wartimes and I feel lucky to be living in a period where knowledge is so easily accessible. It was not always the case and many people suffered in the process of getting where we are

War is a harrowing experience, that can cause many changes in the soldiers that experience it. The texts The War Drags On by Donovan, Hero of War by Rise Against, Wrong Side of Heaven by Five Finger Death Punch and Saving Private Ryan by Steven Spielberg all share the theme “the reality of war changes people”. This is illustrated by the lyrics, quotes and visuals featured in these texts.