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
Because how Paul and his comrades were so young. They started to see the world differently after joining the war to the point, they start to feel saddened in living their life. “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
In order to emphasize the degree to which the soldiers in World War I changed emotionally, Paul juxtaposes the innocence of his youth with a primal instinct of desperate survival that forms from the brutality of the war. As time passes, each of the soldiers slowly loses his sense of self, specifically seen when Bäumer and Kropp, a fellow soldier, cannot seem to recognize themselves in a regular life in the future after the war. Kropp then interprets this as a loss of preparedness because of war. Paul seems to agree as he reminisces, “We were eighteen
Paul has to lie to Kemmerich’s mother or else she would have been even more upset than she had been when she heard the bad news. Paul is devastated when his friend died but stays brave because he knew with war comes death. An example that also proves this is, “Kat falls. We two are alone… Couldn’t I shoot myself quickly in the foot so as to be able to go with him… ‘he is stone dead’ …
In this particular occurrence, Paul does not identify the enemy he attacks. He merely mentions his enemy’s face without specificity. By describing the man only as “a wounded machine-gunner,” Paul represents the lack of humanity created when soldiers view the enemy as nothing more than a pawn in war. Paul fails to distinguish his enemies making his attack much more vicious. The more monstrous the attacks, the more effect these blood bath’s have on the soldier's' mental conditions.
Such events in the front has shaped his perspective in human beings, he has lost that compassion he used to held. Paul parents also realize that his life will never be the same. Also another piece that supports this evidence is Paul openness towards his feelings when seeing dying patients at the hospital:”...and all men of my age, here and over there, throughout the whole world see these things, all my generation is experiencing these things with me. ”There for showing that all the cruelty Paul has suffered of the war is tag along the same experience towards his
Remarque shows that Paul lost his humanity in the war. One example of brutality in war is when Paul stabs a French soldier twice. Paul was scared and panicked so he stabbed him again “I want to stop his mouth, stuff it with earth, stab him again, he must be quiet, he is betraying me; now at last I regain control of myself, but have suddenly become so feeble that I cannot any more lift my
Acting on instinct Paul stabs the soldier and in watching him die Paul begins to spiral. Remarque uses dehumanizing diction when he describes the soldier's death which shows Paul's descent from his past self. Paul describes how the only thing he felt while killing the soldier was how “the body suddenly [convulsed]” and then “ [became] limp” and “[collapsed] (216). The author's use of dehumanizing diction in this passage regarding the French soldier's murder is significant because the connotation of “body” lends itself to an unempathetic tone, enhancing the discussion on the loss of humanity because it demonstrates how Paul doesn't even think of the man he killed as a person; same as he. Remarques description of the person as a “body” makes the reader see the soldier as less than a human, how the war has impacted Paul.
For example, when Paul killed a man, “You can’t do anything about it. What else could you have done? That’s what you are here for” (Remarque 228). When Paul killed Gerard Duval he was planning on throwing away his life and living for him. Without the comfort and assurance from his comrades Paul would have died from the guilt.
Throughout the novel, Paul illustrates his compassion to his fellow recruits as the war goes on. Paul then goes on to say, “comrade, I did not want to kill you. If you jumped in here again, I would not do it, if you were sensible too” (Remarque 223). At this point
Paul sees that the soldier is not dying immediately and forces dirt into his mouth to try and suffocate him. Paul is crying and very distraught. He begins to feel bad for stabbing him and tries to save the soldier by putting pressure on the wound. Paul goes through the soldier's personal belongings and pictures and sees that he has his own family. This breaks Paul a lot.
Throughout the novel Remarque symbolizes the soldier’s behavior is similar to “dangerous animals” – they ignore their human instinct to survive death, and “for the first time in three days we can defend ourselves against it”. Representing the social impact that war can have on individuals becoming aggressive, conveying to the reader the effects of being in the environment of a war zone can have and the influence it provides on how they see their enemies and themselves. Paul’s characterization towered the enemy changes significantly when his confronted face to face with the Russian Prisoner of War camp, “I sense in them is the pain of a dumb animal”, however changes his point of view towards the prisoners. “A word of command has made these…figures our, enemies a command might transform them into our friends”, this defines a sense of comradeship towards the enemy. The transformation of Paul’s character reflects to the reader the sympathy he has towerds them an ignores the propaganda of .
We see a change in Paul’s life as now an experienced trooper he even feels remorse for the captured Russian prisoners as he knows the feeling of turning into a more beastly human just trying to survive. Unlike other soldiers who abuse the prisoners Paul grants them with cigars and cake showing how he has now changed from his first time experiencing the front. However, as the story continues Paul is once again sent to action and this time he kills for the first time, a French troop named Gerard Duval. It hurts Paul as he realizes he is killing fellow human beings who are not much different than him. Kroop says, “we are here to protect our fatherland.
Paul learns that war obtains the capability to demolish society. War destroys so many innocent people’s lives, whether it kills innocent human beings or shatters the innocence of those who fight in
Religion is a major piece of societal function in the modern era. Lots of societal factors can be determined by one’s religion. So, it makes sense that religion and religious institutions are a continual hot topic for sociologists, and that there is an undying debate as to the meaning and purpose of religion, mainly due in part to the three conflicting views of sociology: functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism. Functionalism, according to Understanding Social Problems, 5th Edition, Functionalism states that “society is a system of interconnected parts that work together in harmony to maintain a state of balance and social equilibrium for the whole”. In other words, it is a sociological viewpoint that suggests that society functions in a cooperative manner meant to build and uphold itself, the key focus being how society attempts to preserve itself and evolve: group survival.
