Summary Of Kemmerich's War

Chapter 2 sums up the war in a different fashion, showing the contrast between the uselessness of past knowledge and the “raw and emotional skills necessary” in the trenches (20). The duties imposed on the camp by Corporal Himmelstoss symbolize the hours of work and duties done before enlistment that mean nothing during the war. Being “put through every conceivable refinement of parade ground soldiering” shows how schoolbook tasks were diligently performed only for fear of how society would perceive the boys if they were to do otherwise (26). Himmelstoss himself is the embodiment of previous responsibilities that only make the men “howl with rage” at present (26). The death of Kemmerich goes hand in hand with the death of innocence, Kemmerich’s shiny boots being the small glimpse of hope that keeps the men going. Baumer receives saveloy, hot tea, and rum from Muller for salvaging the boots. In return for giving Muller a sense of hope, Baumer receives a more needed sense of comfort and satisfaction. His hunger, one “greater than comes from the belly alone” (33), is thus satisfied. Chapter 7 directly reinforces this transition from an old life into a new one. Baumer “feels an attraction” to the

“The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” by Randall Jarrell is able to accomplish so many thing with so little lines-mainly through the use of metaphor and diction. It explains the terrors of wars in gruesome detail and explains the ways in which wars, in a sense “breed” and “birth” death. To some, this poem is seen as the ultimate poem of war, and rightly

Chapter one, Dying, explained the process of an individual soldier’s death and “the concept of the Good Death.” Following, the second Chapter, Killing, talks about the force of the war on the people who were involved and the how “killing was a battle’s fundamental instrument and purpose.” In Chapters three and four, Burying and Naming, the challenges of establishing names of the dead and giving them an adequate burial is debated. The question, “What should be done with the body,”

In the incredible book, All Quiet on the Western Front written by Erich Maria Remarque, the reader follows Paul Baumer, a young man who enlisted in the war. The reader goes on a journey and watches Paul and his comrades face the sheer brutality of war. In this novel, the author tries to convey the fact that war should not be glorified. Through bombardment, gunfire, and the gruesome images painted by the author, one can really understand what it would have been like to serve on the front lines in the Great War. The sheer brutality of the war can be portrayed through literary devices such as personification, similes, and metaphors.

Many people say that war is worse than Hell because innocent people die in it. In Beah’s life, this is most definitely true. Throughout the war, Beah goes through many hardships and witnesses the deaths of innocent loved ones, and Beah’s writing reflects how he felt during these times. Beah uses rhetorical strategies like diction, imagery, and detail choice to convey the emotional process he had to undergo in order to survive.

In Erich Maria Remarque’s novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, human nature is the only abstract periphery between belligerent barbarism and justifiable violence. Through the insipid bombardments that rained shells over the Germans’ heads and noxious implementation of mustard gas, Remarque dexterously misleads the reader into believing that he fights in an apathetic war where all remnants of human nature and identity have been destroyed with the introduction of trench warfare. Through Paul Baumer’s eyes, Remarque identifies war as an artificial construct devoid of human identity and any subsequent emotions until the first bombardment, the first glimpse Baumer has of the unfettered abominations of war. After the shrieking of artillery shells ceased, it was replaced by the numbing scream of injured horses. Paul described this abhorrent noise as “the moaning of the world…, wild with anguish, filled with terror, and groaning” (Remarque 62), the first emotionally provocative scene in the novel. As if the description of the noise did not suffice to pique the reader, Remarque continues, “The belly of one is ripped open, the guts trail out. He becomes tangled in them and falls…” (Remarque 63). At this instant, Remarque sheds the obscure layer of superficiality and reveals the tatters of human nature and identity still exist even in most anguish conditions of comeradeship, sympathy, contrition, and selflessness.

The brutalities of war is not just in the battlefield, as a classmate of Paul’s, Kemmerich, is slowly dying of gangrene, and only the use of morphine will get him through the days while in the hospital. When he realizes he no longer has both his legs he loses hope of living at all as he argues and laughs “I don’t think so”(27) while Paul tries coming up with excuses of why Kemmerich should fight to live. As Kemmerich dies, readers are left with images of how Kemmerich’s “flesh melts” (28) as “the forehead bulges”(28) and how his “skeleton is working itself through”(28) The first death readers experience is Kemmerich’s, young and naive he symbolizes innocence and the brutalities within a

Erich Maria Remarque did a phenomenal job of evoking imagery in his novel, “All Quiet on the Western Front.” His alluring use of adjectives and adverbs made his words jump off the page. The sweeping images of the dead and wounded, linger in my mind. However, sight is not the only sense that his writing induces. Whilst reading the passages that describe the death, destruction, and fighting, one can almost feel, and smell, as if they lived the very moment. The fact that Remarque describes how the soldiers slowly become disillusioned with the war, makes these images more impactful for me. He explains that the soldiers know that the war was not their fault, and the men they are killing are not actually the real enemy; they are just ordinary

In the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Remarque; Erich illustrates the brutal conditions on the front lines. Effects of war in the novel change the purpose these men have in life; their survival is priority, living with that mindset for years causes lots of social barriers and inhumane mindsets. For example the narrator states, “We are insensible, dead men, who through some trick, some dreadful magic, are still able to run and kill” (116 ), showing how the soldiers see the cruelty at the front, yet feel helpless in stoping it as they are the problem. Most soldiers chose to fight blindly, wondering later, why were they fighting to begin with. Remarque portrayed the fear and distrust the soldiers had in the war throughout the

Erich Maria Remarque conceptualizes the morbid imagery of war in order to teach the readers how war is vile and putrid. While in war you can see the guts and gore from some of your friends, but some of the animals that are used in war. “The belly of the horse was ripped open and the guts trail out” (Remarque 63). During battle the warriors endured scary sights. War noises are scary and lingering in the mind. “The screaming of the beast becomes louder” (Remarque 63). When in battle you don’t know what you will face next. The forest was burnt down but the soldiers looked at the positive side and noticed it still smelled good. “They still smell of resin and pine” (Sobel). The soldiers sometimes used small things like these to make them more confident. Erich Maria Remarque uses imagery to show the readers how brutal war is.

The smell of thickening, chalky smoke weaved it's way into the damaged lungs of the soldiers. The never-ending sense of nausea spiraled, slowly suffocating you. The smoke was a killer on the loose. Rotting corpse lie frozen in time, unaware of the standpoint. A pungent smell mixed with a drop of sickening sweetness compressed waiting for your last breath. Dead rats, squelching mud and the overall sense of darkness, combined forces and created a poisonous, overpowered hurricane of death-eaters. Inescapable stench of deep, rusted iron coiled in the form of khaki, overcast, flying phantoms. The whiff of grounded moss and oxidized metal chased us soaking up into our uniforms, weighing us down. Moss, blood, smoke, death, rain, all waiting for

The rough smell of gunpowder filled the air, clutching our lungs as more and more men fell. Voices of courage and aggression quickly turned to the sound of men crying, their mouths gasping onto the air trying to preserve the little life they had left while others simply went silent but the tank continued to roll. The tank was faring well, its steel exterior and thick tracks shielded us from the horrors outside. The machine tank continued to roll with me helpless inside, forcing me to watch and wither. Every muzzle flash, every haunting scream, every bloody detail carved into my mind forging the worst of all nightmares. Though, even the tank had limits as its tracks eventually gave way to the onslaught of bullets. Shell shocked and ears ringing, I had managed to escape the machine with a weapon in one hand and a flare in the other. Blinded by the fire erupting from the tanks wreckage, the flames ultimately gave way to the night revealing the war torn battlefield.

‘Only the monstrous anger of guns.’ Is the answer to this question, describing what the soldiers received. Through personification the guns responsible for taking so much human life are made out to be evil. The image that is created is that there is massive destruction and a force of exploding shells. ‘Guns’ is a loud and rhythmic word, creating the impression that war is fierce, like a monster.

They looked like lepers, not heroic forward scouts. Their faces looked moss-grown, hatched and sorrowful without hope. It was a stinking life” When you are a part of a war you are out to fight for your country leaving everything behind, and your life is unpredictable as you are not aware of what might happen. You may die or you may be one of those lucky few people who survive the war and get to tell people stories about it. But the scars never fade. It’s a carving engraved in your brain that creates a picture you simply cannot erase no matter how hard you try. Some people pride in being soldiers while some think of it as a burden. But just because you are in a dejected atmosphere doesn’t mean you become the atmosphere itself. You should not forget who you