Imagine being a teenager with little to no fighting experience fighting for your life on the battlefield. All Quiet on The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, Paul is just a 19-year-old boy who had enlisted in war because he was peer pressured by his teacher at his school. He had no idea how to fight and had to pick everything up on the fly. In A Midnight Clear, 6 soldiers went out to war with each and all had IQs over 150. The leader and main character is Will Knott he was promoted to sergeant with very little war experience and his name wasn’t Will Knott it was a nickname. They called him Will Knott because there wasn’t something he wouldn’t do. He was a great listener and that is what kept Knott alive and what eventually led Paul to …show more content…
They both had hard times with hunger. Paul had to hide his food from rats to survive because if the rats stole their food rations for the day they would most likely die of hunger or be too weak to fight. “The slices we put out are heaped together in the middle of the floor. Each man takes out his spade and lies down prepared to strike. Deterring, Kropp and Kat hold their pocket torches ready (Remarque 102). This quote is emphasizing Paul's struggle with the conditions at war. Something so simple as a small ration of stale bread has to be fought from angry fat rats. Also, in Midnight Clear Will Knott struggles with not finding food and is so desperate for food that they make a treaty just to get food to survive. This is similar because both soldiers had to find food to survive and would do anything for …show more content…
“For us lads of eighteen they ought to have been mediators and guides to the world of maturity, the world of work, of duty, of culture, of progress—to the future.” (Remarque 19). This explains how Paul is still a kid and it is sad that he doesn’t get to live a normal life like everyone else that is not at war. This is similar to Will Knott because they are similar in age and they both had a fine home life and were just sent out to war. The only different thing is Will Knott knew he wanted to join the war and Paul kind of got peer pressured into it. Moreover, Paul also went with his friends instead of being assigned a random group like Will