Kevin Arenibal
Mrs. Goldsmith
English 4
17 October 2014
All Quiet In The Western Front : The Abuse of Power Many people in our society and in history abuse the power they have been granted; such as taking advantage of someone or manipulating someone with the ability to punish them if they don't agree.
For example, In the WW1 novel All Quiet In The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque Paul, the narrator and main character, and his comrades discuss the abuses of power that Himmelstoss commanded them in their training days. Paul explains that Himmelstoss would have never acted so harsh on them in his former days as a postman. It is Kat who makes a statement, "Let a man be whatever you like in peacetime, what occupation is there in which
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He can only do that in the army. It goes to the heads of them all, you see. And the more insignificant a man has been in civil life the worse it takes him" ( Remarque 44). what Kat is trying to say is that any man given some sort of power acts different and acts like a cruel leader. People with power abuse power because they have something regular people don’t have. In other words, if a normal guy in society was given power to do what he likes he will abuse the power and use in a negative way because he’s powerful and knows he can’t be punished. For Example, In an article titled Police Abuse of Power, Plain and Simple by Brandon Buskey, The author talks about that in Etowah County, Alabama that the city's Sheriff's Office has a Fourth Amendment problem because that about once a month a sheriff's car shows up, unannounced and at night to a family's home in Alabama.Uniformed officers walk to the family's door where the neighbors can witness everything. The problem is that they knock and demand to be let in, If the family refuses the police threaten them with arrest. Once inside, the officers …show more content…
He basically says that power is evil if the person with power has too much of it . " One man must always have power over the other. The mischief is merely that each one has much too much power" (Remarque 44). What this quote is trying to say is that it is part of human nature to want power over humans and war makes people want more power because no one wants to listen to someone constantly telling them to do . For example, this relates to the novel Lord of The Flies by William Golding when a group of boys are stuck on an island who try to govern themselves with different ideas of how to run the island. Jack is manly the person who has power throughout the whole novel his biggest worry is having power that's all he cares about he's greety but there's nothing special about him; he doesn't have any knowledge for leading. He's just arrogant. And sometimes that's all you need to be a leader
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the last straw. In October 1914, World War I broke out. Long before the war, the creation of the alliance system and the competition between European countries lead to an increasing tension that spread throughout Europe. As an attempt to resolve the global issues, the Triple Alliance, including Russia, Great Britain, and France, went to war against the Triple Entente, Austria Hungary, Germany, and Italy. The novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque eloquently depicts the horrors of war and its disastrous consequences by following the journey of a young German soldier.
All Quiet on the Western Front demonstrates how expendable soldiers are during war by using a pair of boots that are passed on soldier to soldier as the owner who wears the boots dies. The boots are first discovered by Kemmerich, one of Paul’s friends, who finds them on a fallen paratrooper. Inheriting them as his own, Kemmerich wears them as it is better to fight with boots that prevent your feet from tiring as quickly and from the cold. He feels that these boots will make fighting more tolerable and becomes very comfortable with them.
In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front soldiers admit themselves in the war and struggle more than just staying alive. Oftentimes their lives as regular humans are threatened. Remarques purpose in writing this novel was to show how the war dehumanizes the soldiers,how comradity is created during war, and how their life after war is changed. One of the most common motifs throughout the novel is how soldiers in the war are dehumanized and turned into killing machines. In an article written by Common Dreams a story is shared about a veteran who simply became dehumanized.
Before World War I, all of Europe in 1914, was tense and like a bomb or a fire was waiting to erupt. Europe had not seen a major war in years, but due to Militarism, Imperialism, Alliances, and Nationalism tensions grew high. Each country was competing to be the best by gaining more territory and growing in their military size and successful economies. World War 1 was waiting to happen and the assassination of the Archduke was the spark that lit Europe up. In All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque we see the effects of the assassination.
If you are reading your history book, a play, or even watching the news today, you will see how people abuse the power that they have over somethings. There have been many leaders and people who abuse their power over civilization and places. Even the littlest taste of power often leads them to corruption. Many times, citizens and adversaries riot over some of the things that they disagree on and, in some cases, murder comes in to play.
Abuse Of Power People abuse the power that they happen to have all the time no matter if it 's a little thing or a big thing it happens all the time. In the book The Chocolate War the Head person in charge at Trinity High school is a good example of how power is abused. Brother Leon 's abuses his power my hitting a student, watching another student get beat up by another student. The first example was when Brother leon called up Bailey to stand in the front of the classroom to question Bailey on why he cheats.
Macbeth by William Shakespeare and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins are two texts written ¬centuries apart but with very similar concepts of power. In Macbeth, power is held by Macbeth while in The Hunger Games power is held by President Snow. Both of these characters are heads of totalitarian societies and used force to control anyone who opposed them. Macbeth and President Snow lead with absolute power which lead to both leaders became paranoid, scared that there power would be removed from them.
All Quiet on The Western Front, written by Erich Maria Remarque, is a novel composed after World War One to convey the experiences of German soldiers during this horrific time of fighting. He brought to light many important issues that occur during wars. In this book, three horrors of war that had the largest impact were the lack of sanitation in the trenches, the loss of comrades, and the shock that came from unexpected and ongoing shelling. The lack of sanitation in the trenches caused many diseases, infections, and terrible memories to me made.
In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front there are many good examples of comradeship. Comradeship should have been and is a major part of this story. Think about it, fighting day and night for your life isn’t an easy task to do alone. Friends and acquaintances are going to come in real handy when in war. Remarque does a very good job implying this theme.
In chapter 9 Paul has ruptured to the front, and finds Kat, Müller, Tjaden, and Kropp are still alive and are ok. Paul and his friends think that if thirty people would have said “no” the war wouldn’t have happened and they would have been there. Paul also volunteers to go into No Man’s Land to gather info about the enemy. Paul gets lost on his way back and finds shelter in a shell hole, after a while a soldier go into the same hole and Paul is forced to kill him. It was to bright outside for Paul to make his way back to camp so is has to stay there until night with the dead body.
The horrors of war can be seen throughout most of the novel All Quiet on the Western Front. Although this novel takes place during World War I, horrors of war have been around since the beginning of war, and can still be seen here today. Almost all soldiers, regardless of which war they’re in, end up losing themselves. This is due to the experiences these soldiers have gone through and the horrors of war that they have seen or been a part of. War is a gruesome part of human history, and the different horrors often hidden within can tear the soldiers apart, both mentally and physically.
We march up, moody or good-tempered soldiers- we reach the zone where the front begins and become on the instant human animals (Remarque 56). The book, “ All Quiet on The Western Front” , written by Erich Maria Remarque is a book about World War I where soldiers are consistently surrounded by death, fighting, and the bare survival instincts that war brings out in people. World War I effected poetry greatly by the death and bitter pain it brought to people's lives which influenced their writing. In literature war was viewed as an honor and people were excited for it because they believed heroes were made but they never considered the price it would cost.
The aftermath of the horrifying and traumatic events of World War 1, brought a dramatic rise in of pacifist and anti-war literature, including the impactful novel All Quiet on the Western Front, composed by Erich Maria Remarque. Remarque’s personal experiences fighting in the futile battles of World War 1 drove him to portray a realistic perspective of war and serve a voice for the Lost Generation through his novel and make deliberate decisions to portray the betrayal of the older generation forcing innocent boys to engage in atrocities, the immense fear and sadness when losing a comrade, and the major physiological impacts soldiers endure, in order to influence audiences towards pacifism and away from romanticizing war. Born 1898 in Osterburg,
Erich Maria Remarque was a man who had lived through the terrors of war, serving since he was eighteen. His first-hand experience shines through the text in his famous war novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, which tells the life of young Paul Bäumer as he serves during World War 1. The book was, and still is, praised to be universal. The blatant show of brutality, and the characters’ questioning of politics and their own self often reaches into the hearts of the readers, regardless of who or where they are. Brutality and images of war are abundant in this book, giving the story a feeling of reality.
Power can have the persuasive action in undoing the moral ethics of one’s character. This can be seen throughout history, such as World War II and proven by the actions of Napoleon in the allegory, Animal Farm, by George Orwell. As Lord Acton said “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In history what was viewed as a villain, is never the same as the perception. A leader does not begin wanting to do wrong, they start with the best intentions, but power is a tricky thing.