All Quiet on the Western Front Long Essay

All Quiet on the Western Front Long Essay

All Quiet on the Western Front was a story of a group of young children, nineteen years old or so, who enlisted in the military on the advice of one of their professors. They were told, and believed, that they would be seen as heroes in everyone's eyes, and that they were doing such great things for their country and showing extreme nationalism and patriotism. As the months went on, fighting on the front lines, these men realized that this life was nothing like what they were told the military life would be. They were promised fame. This was not the case and through their time in the trenches these men were stripped of their humanity, grew to hate their commanding officers, and were fighting purely for survival to see another day.

Paul was skeptical of his authority from the very beginning. He saw his friend Kemmerich get wounded and die right in front of him; he was told that the military was an honor and a great place to be, and now his best friend was dead. This made Paul begin to dislike his former teachers, as well as his commanding officers, especially when they just took away the body of one of the closest friends he had in order to replace it with someone else who had become wounded. This started Paul thinking that he was nothing more than a number. Seeing new recruits only worsened his hatred for his new life. Seeing them come in such big numbers made him think that if he died, there would be two more to replace him, rendering his existence meaningless. He already thought his life was meaningless since he had not yet lived, being so young. He believed that his life was in the hands of people like his drill sergeant, Himmelstoss, who had humiliated him in the past. Thinking that his higher ups thought nothing of him and did not care for him or his comrades, he took matters into his own hands and got his friends to take revenge against Himmelstoss, beating and whipping him when he least expected it.

As Paul's time on the front lines continued, more happened to further his hatred of humanity. His mom took ill, which he found out about upon his return home on leave for a few weeks. He saw Russian soldiers being held captive and given no food,

...