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All Quiet On The Western Front Cowardliness Quotes

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The Courage of Cowardice
Two things humans often view to be the opposite are being a coward and being courageous. However, in war, they may be more similar than at first glance. In All Quiet on the Western Front, written by Erich Maria Remarque, the First World War rages throughout Europe in its final years. The war is wreaking havoc on the soldiers and civilians. One of the German soldiers, Paul, is on the western front along with his comrades who are like family. For Paul, it is necessary to be courageous to survive the terror and be cowardly to find a balance: Not to be too brazen to make foolish decisions. In All Quiet on the Western Front, the author reveals that survival in war requires courageousness, but that cowardliness can also be …show more content…

The ruthless killing brings a toll on the people who will remember that the enemies are men just like them, as Paul does when he instantly regrets his actions, saying that he would not kill him if he could redo the situation. Thus Paul sees value in being a coward, as he thinks it would be more courageous not to kill him than to go by the standards he learns. The German soldiers train as if they were animals acting upon their instincts to do so, which bears similarity to the human nature of war. Paul is at the stage where he lacks any hope for the war and does not see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is in the winter and at the time when Paul is so accustomed to the war that it is just another day for him. Paul reaches this stage when he returns to the front after staying at the hospital due to a leg injury. In a moment of deep thought, Paul ponders, “...life is simply one continual watch against the menace of death;--It has transformed us into unthinking animals to give us the weapon of instinct...“ (Remarque 273-274). The soldiers may be courageous for their spontaneous acts but are thoughtless, controlled creatures. In this case, it is a negative as they are sacrificing their wits to

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The more fighting there is the worse Paul and the men’s moral become. Paul can not see an end to the war and even if it were to end, he doesn’t believe that he can ever return back to normal. He experiences this when he first visits home during the war. “A terrible feeling of foreignness suddenly rises up in me. I can not find my way back, I am shut out though I entreat earnestly and put forth all my strength.”

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The inhumanity that he witnesses makes Paul conscious of the animal-like suffrage that the soldiers experience throughout their time in the war. To Baumer, the Russian soldiers “are so feeble” (Remarque 193) and have lost their sense of humanity as they are the “pitilessness of men” (Remarque 193). However, Paul can relate to the men as they are all soldiers fighting for a cause that they do not necessarily believe in, bringing out their inner beast in order to survive. He then begins to realize that the more he finds connections and a sense of

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Because of this Paul starts believing he will have to start doing things that may cost him his life in the war and may cost his mentality. “We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world, and we had to shoot it to pieces.”(pg 87). During the war, Paul loses so much, even control of himself that all he felt in the war was mostly insanity. Paul also experiences insanity by seeing so many of his comrades dying. “Besides us lies a fair-headed recruit in utter terror.

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On their way to the front, Paul and his comrades hear the distinct sound of a mortar firing towards them, but the “animal instinct that is awakened in us we are led and protected” (56). Unknowingly, the second company dodge all the shrapnel and escape with their lives. When one’s life is in danger, the primitive instincts are able to make split-second decisions that can save one’s life. While reflecting on his time in the front line, Paul realizes that all the soldiers “turn into animals when we go up to the line, because that is the only thing which brings us through safely” (139). Instead of reflecting on the happier times before the war, Paul can only think about the front line.

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After the traumatic experiences he suffered through, Paul made mental growth in the human aspect. He figured out that “there are still human faces” even in his enemies. Further in this realization he sympathizes with the rest of the wounded soldiers stuck in similar hospitals all over the enemy lines. This identification attaches Paul to the enemy, positively affecting his mental condition. He recognizes that he is not as drastically different as he thought which ultimately changes his outlook on the war.

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The book All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque gives us a good understanding of what war was like for the people fighting on the front. When reading this book people can get a front hand experience of what it is like being in battle. Remarque wrote this book so well that often times you picture yourself actually with Paul and all his friends. The one thing you specifically get to see is how humanity affects warfare. Humanity affects our decisions in warfare because humans are selfish, have fear, and seek revenge.

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During the scene, Paul describes how he “[does] not think” and “make[s] no decision” which shows that the suffering of war has made Paul not consider the enemy as real people (216). The detachment that Paul demonstrates contributes to the idea that the notion of war makes people detach from empathetic views of the soldiers fought

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Throughout the story Paul shows that he cares about his comrades by protecting them from the dangers of war, and he also displays that he will guide them in war. Paul uses his skills of intelligence to guide his team in the trenches and at the front, and he passes on his knowledge and tricks of war to the new recruits. Not many soldiers have all of these qualities, which makes Paul stand out more than his comrades. Even today some men don't express the passion and leadership Paul shows in All Quiet on the Western Front, which brings up the fact that the war needs more men like Paul. To sum up, Paul is an honest and true man who will always be there for his comrades when needed, and he is a man the troops are proud to say is a patriotic

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Paul encounters an enemy soldier in no-man’s land and says “Why do they never tell us that you are poor devils like us, that your mothers are just as anxious as ours, and that we have the same fear of death, and the same dying and the same agony–Forgive me comrade; how could you be my enemy?” (215)Paul is starting to realize that the enemy is basically the same that they are and he is starting to question war in general. But with him witnessing Gerard Duval, it definitely starts to change his sense of perspective because Paul witnessed him die and wants to write to Duval’s Wife after realizing that he too has a family who loves him. This whole idea of questioning the war really comes into play when the Kaiser visits their army. The army realizes that the Kaiser is no more special than anyone else and that the Nationalism and propaganda they were forced into seeing made people think that the Kaiser was their supreme leader, but realistically he was just a normal man and it disappointed the soldiers.

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In the book, All Quiet on the Western Front an enemy soldier jumped into the shell hole with Paul causing him to stab the soldier. Paul states, “The body is still perfectly still, without a sound, the gurgle has ceased, but the eyes cry out, yell,” (Remarque 219). This isn’t showing the loss of family or friends but the loss of Paul himself. He is sacrificing his hopes and dreams by being in the war. He is young and killing someone is taking away any kind of hope for a future.

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Unfortunately, that could not be any further from the truth, as Paul describes himself and his companions turning more beast than man in the face of combat. “It has transformed us into unthinking animals... reinforced us with dullness...” is a prime example of the savage nature of war (274). Instead of trying to be rational thinking men in the face of adversity, Paul and company has to resort to their animalistic survival instincts to simply survive. Furthermore, every time they go into combat and turn to their “animal side”, they lose a piece of their humanity, since that is the cost to simply survive. Paul even compares his experience to that of a polar expedition, stating that the only way to stay alive is to only consider what is going to keep you alive, everything else is superficial.

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1139 Words | 5 Pages

When Paul and his comrades attempt to protect themselves from an incoming bombardment by the French, Paul reflects on how the war has come to “[fill] [them] with ferocity, [turn] [them] into thugs, into murderers, […] this wave that multiplies [their] strength with fear and madness and greed of life, seeking and fighting for nothing but deliverance” (Remarque 114). The author utilizes the words “murderers” and “thugs” to emphasize how the soldiers have turned into inhumane, barbaric humans while participating in the war. This callous characterization suggests that Paul acts instinctively without considering his actions and the guilt that follows. The fact that Paul chooses to describe himself with such a demoralized character demonstrates how he has abandoned his morality into becoming a merciless soldier who feels no remorse for his brutal actions. In addition, Paul’s determined tone of “fighting for nothing but deliverance” indicates that he no longer has an interest in the lives of others, but only for his own survival.

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Moreover, commonly, soldiers are exhilarated to finally go home after long periods of time at the front, and the men dread when they have to return to battle. However, in Paul’s case, he desires to return to the front, rather than staying in his home town and seeing his mother in pain, he yearns to feel numb again. Therefore, Paul is in “agony” because before going on leave, he was hopeless and had no will to live, thus making him a better soldier. Although, after visiting his mother and sister, he has rediscovered a reason to survive, making it harder to go back. Moreover, the word, “comfortless,” illustrates how Paul feels isolated even at home, he feels little comfort where he grew up.

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952 Words | 4 Pages

In fact, he makes it seem like in some cases courageous act is the same as cowardly act in other cases. Author contradicts himself, since he implies that the same action can be both courageous, and cowardly. “They carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run or freeze or hide, and in many respects this was the heaviest burden of all, for it could never be put down, it required perfect balance and perfect posture. ”(p.21) This quote clearly describes how running, and hiding are the displays of cowardice.

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556 Words | 3 Pages

War causes all soldiers to eventually become indifferent. When Paul is explaining the process of being a soldier, he says, “At first astonished, then embittered, and finally indifferent” (Remarque

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