Pessimistic Nationalism : The Tacit Slavery Essay

Throughout the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, and several other war texts, there are a number of themes that can be related to them all. In the book, the character named Paul Baumer writes, in first person, about his experience through war. He sees and feels so many things, but the most important one of all is the feeling he gets when he is with his comrades, his friends. In sight of this, Paul, and other characters, give all their loyalty to the people they are close to. In other specific war pieces, including the film War Horse and “Gregory,” a short story, the characters also experience this life giving idea of comradeship and loyalty. In war, a man’s loyalty to his comrades never alters.

In All Quiet on the Western Front, one of the themes associated with the war was the inhumanity of mankind. The motif of animal instincts between characters showcased this abandonment of humanity. In addition, the strong theme of nationalism throughout this time period encouraged the loss of individuality. Lastly, men in positions of authority in the novel dehumanized soldiers by abusing their position of power. Overall, the events of the war promoted the development of the inhumanity of mankind through recurring animal instincts, nationalism, and power-abusive men.

In All Quiet on the Western Front author and World War I veteran Erich Maria Remarque tells the story of a young soldier named Paul Bäumer who enlists in the German army with a group of his classmates. In the novel the reader comes discover the many horrors that Paul has to endure during his service before his untimely death in October 1918, only weeks before the war ended. The events that happen in the novel to Paul and his friends in his company during the war are very similar, if not identical, to what the German soldiers had to endure while World War I raged on in the real world. The way that the novel portrays the soldiers’ rations and reliance on food, their life on the front and in camp, how the young soldiers’ lives were destroyed before they even began, how the older generations pushed the younger ones to enlist, the death of soldiers in battle, and the refusal to surrender matches almost perfectly to how things were during World War I, particularly for the German soldiers.

The United States of America, a symbol for freedom and liberty throughout the world, was built upon the backs of millions of vulnerable slaves. By the time we became a country in 1776, slavery was engrained in many of our founding fathers minds as the source of economic wellbeing. Each state, community and individual had their own ideas about the institution and whether it was morally or constitutionally right. It is one of the highest debated topics in the history of our country. Slavery, controversial as it may be, was an integral part of the maturation of our young nation.

During the mid 1800’s many Americans began to have mix feelings over the issue of slavery. Many northern Americans believed that slavery was morally wrong and that it was an evil. Southerners on the other hand believed it was a good for the economy as well as for commerce. This great split of attitudes between the north and the south eventually led to threat of the civil war.

Slavery is the greatest paradox in American history. Slavery represents the biggest contradiction between the ideals of liberty that fuel the American Revolution and America’s actual practice after the constitution. America called for a break from Britain to be able to get the liberty, equality and justice they believed mankind deserve. The American fight for freedom was almost hypocritical for many Americans would continue to own enslaved people, denying them their chance at freedom. Blacks were concurrently calling for their freedom when the colonies were, but there were too many oppositions at the time.

War is always the worst tragedy of mankind in the world. We, as human beings, were experienced two most dolorous wars that were ever happened in our history: World War I and World War II. A young generation actually does not know how much hardship the predecessors, who joined and passed through the wars, undergo. We were taught about just how many people died in the wars, how much damage two participations in the wars suffered or just the general information about the wars. We absolutely do not know about the details, and that’s why we also do not know what the grief-stricken feeling of people joining in the wars really is. But we can somewhat understand that feeling through war novels, which describe the truthfulness of the soldiers’ lives, thoughts, feelings and experiences. All Quiet on the Western Front written by Erich Maria Remarque, which takes World War I as background, is the great war novel which talks about the German soldiers ' extreme physical and mental stress during the war, and the hopeless of these soldiers about the “future” – the time the war would have ended.

With the advent of the internet, one of powerful industries in society was born: social media. Although companies like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YikYak and others differ in purposes, each share one major purpose with the rest: human connection; whether it is for entertainment or commercial purposes, for superficial communication or deep, the human race is all about connection between individuals. A sociologist, Brene Brown, once reaffirmed this, asserting, that the fundamental design of humanity was for intimacy and connection. When someone feels shame it is the fear that one is unworthy of such connection. Because of this versatility, drawing emotional appeals and personal connections can strongly support logic and

All Quiet on the Western Front is a story about the horrors of World War I from the perspective of a German soldier named Paul. Throughout Paul’s service he sees and does horrible things, becoming disillusioned with the ideals of the German high command and of world leaders in general. This book makes it clear not only that the generation of boys and men that were sent out to fight feel betrayed by the previous generation and by their government, but also that there was a huge gap between the soldiers and everyone else around them.

\The Emancipation Proclamation was created by Abraham Lincoln to free the slaves, but then what? Historian: Eric Foner’s The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery , Richard Striner’s Father Abraham: Lincoln’s Relentless Struggle To End Slavery , James Oakes essay Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861-1865, James M. McPherson, Henry Louis Gates’s Lincoln on Race & Slavery, Lerone Bennett Jr. Forced Into Glory: Abraham Lincoln’s White Dream,

In the opening chapter, Paul Baumer, the narrator, recalls how schoolteachers, such as his own, persuaded their bright-eyed students to put on the German colors. Paul’s teacher, Kantorek, taught his students the importance of the war as he instilled in them the values of nationalism and patriotism. Everyday, he sprouted war propaganda at them in “long lectures” (Remarque 11). He glamorized the war telling his students that they were “the Iron Youth” (Remarque 18) and that “duty to one’s country is the greatest thing” (Remarque 13). Consequently, his students left class enlisted in the war one by one “until the whole of the class went” (Remarque 11). When the students left the comforts of home to volunteer for the war, they valued their country above all else and were prepared to face their own death as doing so lined up with what they believed in.

When either World War is depicted, the Germans are often displayed as evil, menacing monsters who are out to destroy the heroic Allied forces. As All Quiet on the Western Front is told from the perspective of a German soldier, there is a refreshing change and blunt honesty that accompanies it. The main difference the candor provides is that the soldiers do not focus on bravery and heroics, as is common in popularized war media. Rather Remarque states clearly on the first page, “This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it.” Remarque himself was in World War I, and explains that war does not favor the lionhearted over the meek, they are blown to pieces all the same. Paul mentions that, “While they taught that duty to one’s country is the greatest thing, we already knew that death-throes are stronger.” He reflects on how Kantorek and others inspired him with nationalistic ideas, but did not mention the outstanding suffering and

Germany flourished on the nationalism in the early 1900’s of its people. Ready to encounter an attack at any moment and any time. People forget the decision of war until they are in the flame of its fire. In the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque explains his experience of the war in World War 1 through a character Paul Bumer. Bumer was a kind and sensitive man. Back in school he used to write poets. Pual’s Bumer teacher brainwashed him and other students who where his classmates. He convinced them by the idea of glory and dramatic rhetorical for war and fighting for the sake of their country. After that dialog, the students were encouraged to enter the war. In the book many scenario are shown, the most critical

All Quiet on the Western Front and Night are two novels that talk about wars and author’s experiences. They are different in author’s perspective which All Quiet on the Western was written in a German soldier’s view and Night was in Jewish people’s view, one is the warrior and one is the victim. Despite those differences, these works share the same idea of the dehumanization of war and how it can physically and mentally affect people by using real events and ironic writing style.

In the words of Otto Von Bismarck, “Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war.” Many of the preceding war novels to All Quiet on the Western Front, misrepresented or overlooked the anguish of war, in favor of more resplendent ideals such as glory, honor, or nationalism. The predominant issue of All Quiet on the Western Front is the terrible atrocities of war. The reality that is portrayed in the novel is that there was no glory or honor in this war, only a fierce barbarity that actually transformed the nature of human existence into irreparable, endless affliction, destroying the soldiers long before their deaths.