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Paul's Insanity In All Quiet On The Western Front

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Isaac Saldua #21 1-6-23 L.L.L. Writing Paul’s Insanity Have you ever felt like joining WWI and experience a lot of negative emotions such as insanity? Because if you do, you would relate to Paul in the book: All Quiet On The Western Front written by Erich Maria Remarque, the story follows the main character, Paul, on his journey in joining WWI to provide some money for his family and experience a once in a lifetime adventure. Sadly during his journey, Paul experiences many negative psychological problems. One of them being Insanity. He experienced insanity seeing the consequences of killing people during the war and experiencing the death of his comrades. A moment when Paul encountered his insanity is when he talked with …show more content…

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. He has buried his face in his hands, his helmet has fallen off. I fish hold of it and try to put it back on his head. He looks up, pushes the helmet off, and as a child creeps under my arm,”(pg61). Paul experiences death like it’s an everyday occurrence. This contributes to Paul’s insanity by giving him the thought that he might die very soon. 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

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His father also questions him and this is hard for Paul because he just wants to put his experiences aside and enjoy his time at home. He isn’t as comfortable with his family compared to his comrades. This is because he can’t relate to them anymore. After all, he is not the same person he once was. He can’t interact with his mother, father, or sister like he used to.

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He was serious and knew what it meant to be scared. Paul saw things that no one else could come to terms to understand. He experienced what warfare actually was. Including walking through shell holes, standing in the front as a target, and killing people. Paul became so adapted to the war that when he was home he would often flinch or jump at the littlest

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Paul is afraid it will continue to be glorified when it is actually terrible. There is a limited amount of food, the rations are too small. His memories and future will continue to be hindered by the war.

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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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They numbed their emotions and didn’t allow themselves to think for too long on anything that might cause guilt, sadness, confusion or anger. In the end, all of Paul’s friends and finally, Paul himself, died in the war

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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 and his comrades are examples of this because he explains that they have become “…wild beasts… No longer do we lie helpless, waiting on the scaffold, we can destroy and kill, to save ourselves, to save ourselves and be revenged” (113). The knowledge that they could die at any given moment has impacted their thought process, forcing them to stray away from reason and reside with primal senses. This also contributes to the mental disorder PTSD because since the soldiers have reverted to “wild beasts” during the war, it will be hard to get their mindsets to revert to what it was before they went into a traumatic war. Another way where a soldier’s mindset could be negatively impacted is when they kill an enemy in which they know the enemy’s background. This is displayed when Paul kills a French man, Gerard Duval, who jumps into the same pit as him.

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He portrays many of his own views on war through Paul's character. Thus allowing the reader to be more engaged and connected to the experiences Paul's going through. He shows his readers that in order for a soldier to survive he must lose his sense of innocence. "I nod. We stick out our chests, shave in the open, shove our hands in our pockets, inspect the recruits and feel ourselves to be stone-age veterans" (35).

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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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Before the war Paul was innocent. He knew none of war and was just a kid who had never experienced anything bad. War can effect one in a way that can never be changed. Due to how they used to be the war has changed them so much that they will never be friendly, well-adjusted children again. Not just war has created major effects on the way people live it also somewhat belongs to the person themselves.

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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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Paul, in this traumatic moment shows how he has gotten to the point where he is losing his mind. He has lost trust in people so much that he thinks a doctor who has no reason to hurt him is trying to intentionally amputate his leg. He then comes to the conclusion that he has to attack the surgeon because they would gas him if he weren’t to resist. Prior to this, Paul most likely wouldn’t have reacted this way. For example, before incurring the trauma of war, Paul was seemingly capable of keeping his emotions under control even under extraordinary circumstances.

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This loss of access to his emotions is just another portion of the war that corrupts Paul’s spirit and leaves him with a deep sense of desire for human

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