Barriers & Desensitization

"I see their dark forms, their beards move in the wind. I know nothing of them except that they are prisoners; and that is exactly what troubles me. Their life is obscure and guiltless; if I could know more of them, what their names are, how they live, what they are waiting for, what their burdens are, then my emotions would have an object and might become sympathy... A word of command has made these silent figures our enemies; a word of command might transform them into our friends." (p. 193-194)

I though this passage on the Russian prisoners gave insight into both the experience of a soldier and the aim of the novel as a whole. As a soldier, men are classified into allies and enemies. But it is apparent that these Russian enemies are simply soldiers like the Germans, "just as kindly as our own peasants in Friesland." (p. 190) Yet these classifications, to Paul arbitrary, are held up by barriers, both physical (the fence) and non-physical (language, self-preservation/greed). It is harder to shoot at a man with a name and a background than it is to shoot at a "dark form" whom you know nothing about.

The following link is to an article that talks about how the dehumanization of people makes war more publicly acceptable.
http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1442

http://publicintelligence.net/the-u-s-militarys-video-game-training/
This link is to an article about the use of video games and virtual reality in military training exercises. Such training is controversial, as some argue that one of the effects is desensitization to violence, making it easier for soldiers to kill.

Obviously dehumanization and desensitization are preferable for those who wish to promote war. But to those of us who believe that war is hell, it is necessary to get past the barriers that prevent us from knowing the true story, which I believe is part of the purpose of this novel.

Loss of Innocence

In "All Quiet on the Western Front", there seems to be a reoccurring theme of the men losing their innocence. The first few chapters of the book (before the actual war scenes) focus mainly on how young the soldiers are. They are only 18 and they feel as though the war has aged them greatly. When Paul gets put on leave, he goes back to his childhood home where he is faced with his old life again. He says this while he is sitting up in his room, flipping through his books, "The breath of desire that then arose from the colored backs of the books, shall fill me again, melt the heavy, dead lump of lead that lies somewhere in me and waken again the impatience of the future, the quick joy in the world of thought, it shall bring back again the lost eagerness of my youth." He has truly realized that he will never be the same as he was and will never get his youth or innocence back after the war.

The link at the bottom of this is a link to a article about children living in Iraq. They are growing up amidst war and are severely suffering from it mentally. Much like the soldiers are suffering from it in "All Quiet on the Western Front". The article talks about how the children saw their teachers throat slit and since then have wet the bed and played extremely violent games. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/feb/06/iraq.topstories3

All Quiet on the Western Front vs. Lord of the Flies

Remarque’s novel seems to keep referencing and bringing up this argument of if these soldiers are only men or if they are displaying characteristics that are animalistic. A great example comes straight from the text of these animalistic qualities, “We have become wild beasts. We do not fight we defend ourselves against annihilation. It is not against men that we fling our bombs, what do we know of men at this moment when Death is hunting us down” (Remarque 113).

Another novel that displays these animalistic characteristics is from Lord of the Flies by William Golding. The following website takes you to a summary of chapter 9 within the book where the boys who are already in a very wild state mistake their own friend for a wild beast and tear apart and actually kill him. http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/section9.rhtml This book gives another example of how these animalistic qualities do not only take place in Remarque’s war novel but also with a group of stranded children on an unknown island.

Chance

"Over us, Chance hovers...It is this Chance that makes us indifferent. A few months ago I was playing skat...It is just as much a matter of chance that I am still alive as that I might have been hit" (Remarque 101). This idea of chance, of coincidence, in war appeals to me because I wrote a paper on coincidence because I am baffled by how complex and yet how simple chance really is. Paul survived death simply because he was in the right place at the right time, but why did he get that dumb luck? It's terrifying to think about, especially in war, that one's chances of survival could depend on sheer luck as opposed to months of training.

The link below delves deeper into the topics of chance and fate, fortune and misfortune. For Paul, nearly escaping Death by Chance was clearly a fortunate stroke of luck. It's excruciatingly difficult for humans to grasp the concept of chance because there are no facts or reason for it; chance is uncontrollable and unpredictable.

http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=GVRL&userGroupName=morenetuomcolum&tabID=T003&searchId=R3&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=11&contentSet=GALE%7CCX3407704213&&docId=GALE|CX3407704213&docType=GALE&role=

All Quiet on the Western Front

Remarque’s novel seems to draw a line between subjective and objective points-of-view. While the book’s final page declares that “the army report confined itself to the single sentence: All quiet on the Western Front,” the rest of the book shows that the Great War was anything but quiet for the people fighting in it (Remarque 291).

The following link is to a website called Hometown Baghdad, set up by a team of documentary filmmakers. If you click on the “VIDEOS” link in the top menu, there will be a series of video clips by the filmmakers. The video clips record the lives of three men living in Baghdad during the Iraq War. I think that in a way, these video clips are a 21^st century version of what Remarque did with his novel: they show war from a subjective point of view.  Some of the videos are very graphic.

(post courtesy of Elizabeth Kirchoff, English 2159-002 Spring 2011)