Blog post #2

12/21/2016

All Quiet Blog Assignment Sheet
Rubric

After reviewing the above documents, use the comment button to post your response. You can use the "reply" feature to respond to a classmate's post or comment.

101 Comments

Cecelia Westwater

12/21/2016 11:06:20 am

7. Choose a passage and discuss its significance with the book.

“But now for the first time I see you are a man like me. I thought of your hand grenades, of your bayonet, of your rifle; but now I see your wife and your face and our fellowship. Forgive me comrade. We always see it too late.” This quote really stood out to me because it’s when Paul feels some type of emotion for his actions and what he’s going through. After he killed the printer he sees the consequences of what he’s done. Even though he only killed one person, he ruined the lives of three people (the printer, his wife, and his child). This is when he feels all the emotions of war and he just lets them take over. When he gets back from No-Man’s Land and he’s back in the trenches he shuts back down and goes back to his emotionless self. This quote and the events following it prove once again that war has stripped Paul of what he is and what he could become.

Lily Hagopian

12/21/2016 02:43:17 pm

I agree with what you said here and the point you made. I feel like the end of that quote is really powerful: "We always see it too late." Paul is realizing here that this solider is just like him. The realization he makes, had it been made a little bit sooner, would have saved this soldier's life. Paul did not realize the consequence of his actions until it was to late to do anything to stop or reverse them. It was at this point that we finally see Paul show some kind of emotion toward his circumstances and the things he is dealing with and I feel like this will be the turning point in the book because Paul is affected by killing this man and he won't be as inclined to kill so quickly. He will start to see the enemy he is shooting at as real people who have stories and lives and families. Paul needed to o through something like this to star to see that this war really does affect everyone involved, not just one side. Paul's perspective of war and the way it is affecting people will change because of this event.

Jamie Alessandro

12/28/2016 10:16:47 am

Lily made a great point of pointing out how Paul will start seeing the enemy as people who have family friends and lives. This is a good representation of the enemy must be a distraction because now that Paul has realized this person is just like me but fighting for the opposing side will make him think twice before pulling the trigger and could result in his death and his comrades. If Paul had thought about the mans wife and kids who's to say the man would think the same about Paul and not kill Paul as a result.

Emily Rosen

12/21/2016 11:26:47 am

6. Choose one sentence and discuss how the way it is written adds to its meaning.

In chapter 7, when Paul comes home, his older sister calls out to his mother that he has arrived home. Then, Paul says “I can go no further - mother, mother, Paul is here.” This quote is saying how Paul can not back out or go away now ; his family knows he his home, they know he is safe. The way the sentence is written with the hyphen puts emphasis on what his sister had just called out, and what it really means to him. He has to be with them now, even though it’s not exactly what he wants anymore.

Jacob Kane

12/21/2016 02:55:53 pm

I really like the way you mentioned that he could not go backward or forward, but I think you really could have strengthened your post by including the psychological effects this war has had on Paul in correlation to the sentence. (I.e. Shell Shock) I definitely agree with what you said about the hyphen.

Kayla Vivenzio

1/2/2017 11:05:52 am

While I agree with what you said about the hyphen strengthening the way the sentence is written, I also agree with what Jamie said about what is truly meant in this sentence. Paul was sent on leave and it wasnt that he didn't want to return home, it was that after being in war he felt distant from the life he had before war. Paul can neither go forward or backwards. He see himself as a young soldier who didn't get to live the life many teenagers do, and he also sees himself as one of the comrades who has. Nothing to loose unlike those who have started a family back home. His family are his comradesn now. Although he looks forward to the bed of war, he is more familiar with the constant bombing and enemy attacks he witnesses daily.

Jamie Alessandro

12/28/2016 10:37:13 am

I don't think it's that Paul doesn't want to see his mother it's that all he knows is the frontline and he doesn't see himself as a regular person anymore but just as a soldier. Paul thinks while he's visiting home "a sense of strangeness will not leave me, I cannot feel at home amongst these things", he uses a things to talk about his mother and sister, the house, the chestnut trees, all these things he saw before he became a soldier and all the things he couldn't wait to see when he went home and when they were right in front of him he wanted to get back to the frontline. I think he wants to see his family but he's so mentally distant from his past he just wants to get back to the Constanta in his life and that's death, gunshots and bombs.

Noah Lamothe

12/28/2016 01:58:16 pm

I think that when Paul says "I can go no further", he is referring to the shock of him actually being home and with his family and alive in general, but your description of how the structure of the sentence adds meaning still holds.

Kyleigh Berube

12/29/2016 08:05:52 pm

I agree, this was an important part in the chapter. When Paul returned home he explained that it wasn't the same as it was before. His family was in shock and excitement to see him safe. Paul also saw that his family was struggling with his mothers illness. It seems as if he feels bad that he cannot be there to help.

Alissa Mahoney

1/2/2017 09:45:45 am

I like how you mentioned "can not back out or go away now" because his sister knows hes home. I love your description of what the hyphen has done to the sentence and its emphasis of what it means and how emotional it must be despite the fact he may not want to be home.

Kyle Samagaio

1/2/2017 10:23:30 am

I agree with what you said about Paul having to be with his family even though it may not be what he really wants, you used a strong piece of evidence but I thing you could've strengthened your response even more by including Paul's time and experience in the front and how it effected him.

Brian Houle

12/21/2016 01:37:36 pm

4. Discuss a symbol. Identify a symbol in the text and discuss its significance.

A major symbol in chapters 7-9 was the potato-cakes. These favorite dishes of Paul’s symbolized the childhood Pal once had before he went to war, before he lived his first attack from the allied forces.The potato-cakes were able to illustrate something Paul had loved like books and writing as a growing boy getting ready for his first steps into manhood as an adult, then when he returned they showed how much Paul had left behind when he realized what was necessary for life in WWI. It was important to also show how life for his mother,sister and everyone else in his hometown had not changed at all, they were still the same but when Paul returned he could not bring himself to come back to what he called his home, his comfort. Now he was left with only the comfort in the earth as his only true protector and in his comrades, who all understood what it was like for a man in the front. The cakes were used to illustrate shell shock for men in WWI, to explain what they gave up in life just to survive out on the front.The mental aftermath of killing and watching so many man of different ages and races die all for what seemed to be such an unimportant matter.

Zachary Martin

12/21/2016 05:08:48 pm

I agree that the hot cakes were used to demonstrate the comfort of civilization but it being used to illustrate shell shock I disagree because the shell shock was a cause of the war, not used to illustrate the aftermath, but more to show how the comforts of home were taken away by the men who were persuaded to join that was of a disillusionment.

Victoria Greaves

1/1/2017 10:13:57 am

I agree with you... I feel that the cakes also represent how everything is so different to him now. It was his favorite before the war which means he probably had it often. Something like his favorite food is something he enjoys without even thinking about it, and its hard to realize the little things he used to enjoy until they were taken away from him by the war.

Kayla Vivenzio

1/2/2017 11:11:34 am

I also agree with the fact that the hot cakes were a symbol of Paul's life before war. However I do agree with what Tori is saying about the resemblance shown from this passage. The hot cakes not only represent Paul's favorite food before war, but represent how the soldiers don't get a lot of food during war and how everything is different towards them. Yes Paul's family didn't forget about his favorite dish but when Paul returned he didnt necessarily appreciate the dish as much as worry that his family wouldn't have enough food because they saved the cakes for him... war has caused many to suffer with hunger and poverty not just the soldiers.

Emily Gittle

12/21/2016 01:44:32 pm

Choose one sentence and discuss how the way it is written adds to its meaning.

“I was a soldier, and now I am nothing but an agony for myself, for my mother, for everything that is so comfortless and without end.”
When Paul went on leave, it was nothing like he expected it to be. However, he said that it was him that changed, not the world itself. It was his perspective of the world that dramatically altered. Near the end of Chapter 7, Paul has a rising fear of what’s to come, and this starts with him in a moment with his mother. Paul’s mother comes into Paul’s room, which reminds him of his youth and all the things that were brutally ripped away from him because of war. As a soldier, Paul had hardened on the battlefield, but as he was softened on leave he became ruin.
The way this sentence was written reflects this deep meaning, of all the things Paul left behind that begin to tear away at him. “I was a soldier” is its own independent clause, starting the sentence. This is meant to be a strong start, and the author starts the sentence off like this to compare who Paul was as a soldier to how Paul is now “nothing but an agony”. The clause ends in a comma, creating a pause between the two comparisons; a separation between two different people. The word “for” is used three times throughout the sentence, two after commas. This word is used to represent something. In this case, it is used to represent Paul’s agony in terms of himself, his mother, and his unfortunate circumstances. Also, the repetitive element of the word creates a parallel between the three ideas. These three parallel ideas are the things that sparked a sudden change in Paul’s feelings and in his character. The position of the word “for” before each phrase supports this too, and it creates emphasis on each idea.
This sentence contributes to the effects of war and it acts as a character builder for Paul. This sentence may prove to be even more significant as the story goes on.

Lily Hagopian

12/21/2016 02:35:07 pm

I agree with what you said here but I also feel like this proves how conflicting Paul's two different lifestyles are. He enlists in this war and there they teach him to not have emotion; and to think of the facts and the things that will keep him alive. He throws himself into this lifestyle and changes his personality to have these animal instincts that keep him alive on the front. Then when he goes on leave we see a different side of him. This Paul has emotion and he cares about how his family is and how his mom is feeling. This is the Paul who puts his gear away when he gets to his house because he doesn't want to think about was when until he has to go back. Once he lets these emotions consume his head and thoughts, we see them when he is on the front; when he kills the other solider and then feels guilt and thinks about the fact he took someones life and he watched the soldier feel pain and suffering for a long time before he died. This is different for him and he doesn't normally feel this kind of remorse when he has killed people in the book before, but once he goes on leave and comes back to base, his emotional side has combined with his military side and I predict it will be disastrous for him while he continues to serve.

Russell Jackson

12/21/2016 01:53:55 pm

Choose one sentence and discuss how the way it is written adds to its meeting.

Chapter seven, page 164 states, “My mother is pleased to see me wearing civilian clothes; it makes me less strange to her. But my father would rather I kept my uniform on so that he could take me to visit his acquaintances.
But I refuse.” This quote shows how Paul does not want to go around boasting his uniform and answering people’s questions that he knows he cannot answer truthfully as it’s not the way they believe the war is. He has recently just came back from an attack where his posse got wiped out down to 34 people and he is not sure if his friends will still be there when he gets back. The way this quote is written also adds emotion(pathos). It adds emotion by making a whole separate paragraph and the new paragraph only being one short sentence. Its saying, that there is no way Paul’s parents are going to force him to wear his uniform as he has no interest in the war and just needs a short 17 day break after his years of fighting on the warfront. I predict that Paul will want to go back to war very soon as he is not familiar with the real world and only knows what it is like to live on the war front.

Jacob Kane

12/21/2016 03:00:48 pm

I agree with the fact that Paul does not want to go around boasting his uniform, but I strongly believe that you could strengthen your argument by discussing that the civilian clothes would make Paul seem "Less strange" to his mother. I think you could definitely have connected this to Paul only knowing the warfront and the fact that he is used to his uniform. (P.S. I'm not sure if posse is the appropriate word to be used in that sentence.)

Victoria Alves

1/2/2017 03:23:58 pm

I agree with the evidence you provided of the pathos in the quote you chose. Another example of pathos in the quote is using the comparison between the mother and the father to demonstrate the difference of the emotional appeals of the different genders in Paul's life. The men didn't feel the same way about the kids being sent off to war because they felt it was right to die for your country and that being in the war was good to show off, but the mothers missed their children and were traumatized by the idea of their children fighting and dying in war.

Owen Strobel

1/8/2017 04:57:52 pm

I agree with your response and what you are saying about his parents views on him in the war. You also explained well how the short paragraph adds meaning to the words and makes them more important because they stand out.

Benjamin Wood

12/21/2016 01:58:14 pm

Discuss the point of view from which the All Quiet on the Western Front is told. How might this impact the story? Whose perspective do we get? How does that effect what we know as a reader?

Paul Baumer is the main protagonist in the novel “All Quiet on the Western Front.” He is a fairly young German soldier who fought in WWI, mostly on the front. This novel is told through his eyes in the first person view because pronouns such as I, me, and we are used. In the first person perspective, the reader only is able to decipher what is actually happening through his own eyes and through his own personal experiences. The only disadvantage of the first person perspective is that the reader doesn’t get to see how other characters truly feel about a certain event or topic. The reader only gets to see how Paul truly feels.
In Chapter 9, on page 213, Paul describes part of his experience on his first patrol back from his leave. “I am still afraid, but it is an intelligent fear, an extraordinarily heightened caution. The night is windy and shadows flit hither and thither in the flicker of the gunfire. It reveals too little and too much. Often I pause, stock still, motionless, and always for nothing. Thus I advance a long way and then turn back in a wide curve. I have not established touch with the others. Every yard nearer our trench fills me with confidence-and with haste, too. It would be bad to get hit now.” Since this is first person, the reader only gets to see how Paul feels about this patrol unless one of his comrades tells him how they feel. Even though most of the soldiers are probably just as afraid as Paul is, the readers wouldn’t know for sure because this novel is told from Paul’s perspective. The significance of this quote is that it emphasizes that Paul is very aware of his surroundings on the battlefield and it vividly describes how he is feeling and what he is doing to protect himself.
In Chapter 9, on page 223, Paul talks to the, unfortunately, dead French soldier who fell in his shell-hole. “Comrade, I did not want to kill you. if you jump in here again, I would not do it, if you would be sensible too. But you were only an idea to me before, an abstraction that lived in my mind and called forth its appropriate response. It was that abstraction I stabbed. But now, for the first time, I see you are a man like me.” This is an extremely significant quote to take note of because Paul is realizing that every single person that he is fighting is just like him. They have a life just like everyone else. Paul was so focused on the war at hand that he failed to see who he was actually fighting. They were all humans.

Jenna Gittle

12/26/2016 05:11:46 pm

I agree that Paul's account on the death of the French man was important to his development of character and the plot as a whole. There is another way that this point of view during this experience was important to the story, and this is the emotional and human account of WW1 that Paul's first-person experience builds upon in the story. Due to the writing being in Paul's point of view, the readers get a closer look into his thoughts before and after he kills the French man. Before, when Paul was alone and scared in the trenches, he said this: "If anyone jumps in here I will go for him. Now, once the man is dead, he uses the word "comrade" in description of him and pleads that he only meant to kill an abstraction. His feeling of guilt and the comparison of his before and after thoughts show the readers the reality of the illusions used to convince young boys to join the war effort. This message is strengthened by the fact that it wasn't just a random soldier who fell victim to the illusion, but a 19 year old boy who had experienced his first kill and was struck with sadness by it. Plus, drawing emotion from readers can help Remarque put emphasis on certain ideas, such as disillusionment and soldiers' struggling, to contribute to the purpose of the story.

Erin Gleason

1/2/2017 04:21:24 pm

I agree with your statement about how you're not able to see other peoples thoughts about certain events and I think that's a really big part of the book that gets taken away because of this, not only are you not able to know how his fellow soldiers are feeling but also you don't know what the other side is going through. Great point Ben. You're use of evidence was great to prove your point and you could really understand what you were talking about. Also like you mentioned we have to guess that these soldiers are feeling the same way as Paul in order to understand what is going on and that can take away from the whole point of an event

Lily Hagopian

12/21/2016 02:16:52 pm

Choose a passage and discuss its significance within the book.
In chapter 9 of All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul is in his trench. He and some other comrades go out to see what they are up against on the front lines. They split up and Paul is watching the enemy from a trench. A bomb lands near his trench and it scares him so he is crawling around on the round and ends up in a shell-hole filled with water. He is trying to lie low so he doesn't get himself killed in the fire between his trench and the enemy trench who are now engaged in a battle back and forth. Paul is blinded by fear of being hurt or killed that he makes a vow to himself that if anyone comes into his shell-hole, he will kill them. Another soldier lands next to him and Paul stabs him. There comes a point when it is realized that this man is not actually dead; but he is slowly getting there. Paul then instantly feels bad for him and tries to help him by giving him water he gets from mud and trying to hold the stab wounds to try to stop the bleeding. After the man dies Paul starts to talk to him and he says “It was the abstraction that I stabbed. But now for the first time, I see you are a man like me.” War is a devastating thing as seen throughout this whole book but during these conflicts, the soldiers do not feel sympathy for the people they are killing. They can’t see that there is another person they are shooting at who is in the same boat they are. Paul is finally starting to see that these soldiers are not all that different despite fighting on different sides. Paul thinks about how this soldier must have a wife and someone who's still thinking of him and will have to be told that her husband has died and he begins to feel sympathetic for the man and he feels guilty about taking a life. He even says that this is the first time he has ever killed someone with his own hands and he can see the affect it has on the soldier he has killed; and that is something he has never seen before and it hurts him. The soldiers go through the motions of battle in all of the battle scenes that have been told throughout the book and they don’t ever stop and think about who they are killing. They don't know the stories of who is on the other side of that gun. It is another person just like them and this is the first time Paul is realizing this. In future war scenes in the book Paul is most likely going to be a little more conservative with how many shots he fires because he has made the realization that these soldiers are exactly like them and they are going through the same thing Paul and his friends are.

Emily Gittle

12/26/2016 04:30:48 pm

Ever since Paul went out of leave and back into the different aspects of war, it affected him emotionally and killed some of that animal instinct that grew in him as a soldier. I noticed that he got emotionally affected by a soldier he barely knew after he took leave. Part of the emotion might have come from this, seeing as he accepted the fact he turned into an animal on the battlefield before but had a very distinct reaction after. Also, the setting of this scene could have made an impact on Paul's emotions. It was a dark night, with Paul hiding in a trench alone before the other soldier came in. Since Paul was alone with this man, it was quiet and tense. Also, the night attack was dark and unsettling as well. These are factors that could have led Paul to reflect on what he has done and become emotional. The quote you used was important: "It was the abstraction that I stabbed. But now for the first time, I see you are a man like me.” I can compare this to "War can only happen when the enemy is an abstraction." When Paul and the soldiers thought of the enemy as an abstraction, they were able to become primitive and kill with little thought. However, the one time Paul allowed an enemy to be human, he was strongly impacted by his death.

Cecelia Westwater

12/28/2016 10:02:42 am

I really like the way you talked about the affect of the man's death had on Paul. It really shows that war can change you into someone your'e not. This passage in the book is very eye opening to Paul because he doesn't realize the full aspect of war up until this point.

Meghan Hill

12/28/2016 12:27:14 pm

I agree, I feel that Paul's experience with the dead soldier in his trench has opened his eyes and made him realize how alike him and the enemy soldiers are, and I feel like further on in the book he will start to question why he is even fighting. I also liked that you included how he dehumanized the enemy, which seems to be a common theme of the book.

Nicole Alonso

12/21/2016 02:28:10 pm

Choose a sentence and discuss its significance within the book
In Chapter 7 Of All Quiet On the Western Front Paul, Leer and Kropp finesse these three young french woman into spending the night with them. “We call out to them that we would like to come, sometime when the guards cannot see us. At night. To-night.” This quote reveals the loss of innocence that the war has taken from these no longer “young men”. Paul’s sexual encounters have mostly occurred in the war which destroyed his youth and took away the little innocence that was left. By joining the war at such a young age it has destroyed their chances of living out their crazy, rebellious “teen years” to the fullest.

Emily Rosen

12/27/2016 07:59:35 am

I agree with what you say about how the war destroyed his youth, and took their innocence. I think the scenes with the ladies is the men's compensation for having all their potential taken by the war. This is the way they would've lived had the war not become the center of their lives.

Cecelia Westwater

12/28/2016 10:08:39 am

I agree that the war has taken away their youth and innocence. The war has taken away the young men's chances of actually living a life that isn't centered around war. I really like your example of the french women because it shows that even at war, the young men try to act as if the war wasn't going on around them.

Victoria Greaves

1/1/2017 10:19:57 am

I completly agree with you I feel that these french girls bring something out of Paul that probably wouldn't have without them, a side of him that he would not have shown. This is an event that would have happened to him already that was taken away from them by the war since he lost the memorable moments that come after you leave school and become an adult. Now with these french girls he can try and experience things that he missed in his life by joining the war effort so young.

Victoria Alves

1/2/2017 03:40:28 pm

I agree with the statement you made about the soldiers losing their innocence at such a young age because of the war. The men never got to experience a simple life at home with no violence, and now their lives will never be the same because of how traumatic the war has been. It also shows the significance of how they want to experience these times although they're at war. They still try to escape for a while to experience the life they might have had if they hadn't gone to war. Even though they're at war, they're still young and want to live freely at times.

Kayla j

1/2/2017 06:45:27 pm

i agree with your answer and how you interpretted the encounters. When Paul, Leer, and Kropp go to see the women they swim and bring food with them and I think that their excitement really does show how much of the innocence they lost because of the war

Jenna Gittle

12/21/2016 02:42:30 pm

Discuss the relationship between propaganda and the soldiers’ experience.

Propaganda glorified the soldier as if he were a hero, promised a soldier’s happiness if he were to join the cause, and tricked every man into thinking that he were a fit for the job. However, in All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul and his comrades learn that these promises were false and war provided the opposite.
Propaganda often depicts smiling soldiers with looks and stances of pride and honor. One such piece of propaganda shows an older looking soldier who is smiling and looking the poster viewer right in the eyes. The propaganda itself reads: “Enlist to-day. He is happy and satisfied. Are you?” It is inferred from the poster that if you don’t take action and enlist in the war, you won’t be proud or satisfied with yourself like the soldier is. The fact that soldiers are happy and satisfied from being in the army is false. In Chapter 7, page 140, Paul shares how his troop really feels: “It’s all rot that they put in the war-news about the good humor of the troops, how they are arranging dances almost before they are out of the front line. We don’t act like that because we are in a good humour: we are in a good humour because otherwise we should go to pieces.” The pressure put on a soldier during battle is almost unimaginable; soldiers prepare every day for an oncoming attack and either kill others or be killed themselves. The sight of death in front of them and how painstakingly close they are to dying is not something you can easily shake out from your mind much less be prideful and happy about. Paul and his friends would go insane from fear, anger, and stress if they couldn’t distract themselves from their circumstances. Is a constant internal battle with your fear just to appear happy what propaganda considers a “satisfying” effect of battle?
Propaganda also illusions soldiers into thinking they’re the right men for the job. Another propaganda poster from the time of WW1 displays a bunch of well kept soldiers standing in a line with a spot occupied by a sign that reads “This spot is RESERVED for a fit man” and the poster itself reads “There is still a place in the line for you, will you fill it?” The automatic assumption that all men are fit men is countered by the endless list of the dead and wounded in Chapter 7, page 139 and the “hundred and twenty wounded men lying somewhere or other” Paul mentions with them. The tone in Paul’s words when he says “somewhere or other” hints to this not being abnormal; what use are these men to the cause if they drop like flies? In this case, the propaganda would define a “fit man” as someone who a doctor wouldn’t even bother to aid when they’re wounded.

Jacob Kane

12/21/2016 02:50:11 pm

1.Discuss a symbol. Identify a symbol in the text and discuss its significance.

A symbol is a thing (person, idea, etc) used to represent something else. One symbol I found in chapters 7-9 were the Russian Prisoners. I believe they were used to represent the true human nature of Paul Baumer. A quote to support this is “Any non-commissioned officer is more of an enemy to us than they are to us. And yet we would shoot at them again and they at us if they were free.” This quote displays Paul questioning the war after looking at the Russian prisoners. He also does not hesitate to give them cigarettes and some of his mother’s potato cakes. On the outside Paul is a rugged soldier who kills for a living. But on the inside he is a troubled man who wants nothing more than for this war to be over. This is reflected in the way he treats the Russian Prisoners, the enemies, the people he is supposed to hate, the people he is supposed to kill. When a man questions his country, he questions his morals.

Kayla j

1/2/2017 06:49:13 pm

I also thought the same thing as I read through those specific chapters. As the book also continues Paul has more of these moments of questioning the war and finding faults in the reasons of why it started and the anger towards the effects of the war like he had when supervising the Russian soldiers.

Jessica Matheson

1/8/2017 10:06:11 pm

Your point on that the Russian Prisoners are a symbol in the book I do agree with. Another time in the book that your claim is shown is when a prisoner after learning Paul plays the piano played his violin. This helps allow Paul to truly show use that he doesn't see the prisoners as the enemy and sees then as true human beings.

Roisin Mullett

12/21/2016 03:26:22 pm

*What P.O.V is All Quit On The Western Front written in? How might this impact the story? Whose perspective do we get? How does this effect what we know as a reader?*

The point of view that All Quiet On the Western Front is told in is first person. This gives a great impact throughout the story. Through first person point of view we get to experience not only what the person is thinking or feeling, but we also get to see the soldiers involvement in the war and the event that go on around them. This story is told by Paul Bäumer, a German soldier who right after high school joined the army because his teacher convinced him that is would be the right thing to do. As the story builds up He soon realizes everything that his teacher had told him was just an illusion. By chapter 7, there is one section where Paul starts to to talk about how soldiers can not "burden ourselves with feelings". Yet all around his everybody is dying, Kemmerich, Meyer, Max , Beyer, and Hämerling. Paul then proceeds to say "...fear we do not know much about - terror of death , yes; but that is a different matter that is physical." This lets the audience know what is going on in Paul's mind as the war is crumbling everywhere he looks. This is not a factor or effect that you would get if the story was told in the third person. There may be thoughts being told in the third person, but when it is told in the first person it connects to the reader on a more personal level. Which will strive them to keep reading. Connecting back to WW1, Paul shows one perspective of a soldier in the war but represents all of them. He gives a clear meaning of what it is like to be in this war, what you will see during this war, and what you will fear as it goes on. He shows what it truly means to loose your youth to war, and how war shapes one into a man.

Sam Bloch

12/21/2016 03:32:02 pm

#2: "War can only happen when the enemy is a distraction". Connect a specific part in the text to this quote.

One specific part of the text that connects to this quote comes from pg 193 in chapter 8 when Paul talks about the Russian soldiers in the prison camp next to his training camp. The text states "...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 emotion would have an object and might become sympathy." This connects to the quote because Paul is allowing himself to humanize the enemy. He's no longer thinking of them as a distraction, but instead he thinks about how they have families and lives and careers back home. He's letting himself connect to the enemy, and you can't do that in war. Using this knowledge, I can predict that when he goes back into war he will either go back to his old ways of thinking of the enemy as a distraction or die/suffer because he doesn't.

Zachary Martin

12/21/2016 04:45:09 pm

The fact that if we knew our enemies background, their story, or their past probably would sympathize us and be merciful. Such as friends at school, you would not harm the people you know because the guilt of the killing knowing that they were similar to us. It is similar to killing an animal, if it was your pet you would shed it mercy but if it was a stray you would not care as much as you would with your own, therefore I agree with your answer.

Noah Lamothe

12/28/2016 03:05:15 pm

I like how you explained the possible consequences of humanizing the enemy and how Paul will have to go back to his old thought process if he wants to survive, and how being near the Russian inmates made him feel sympathy for everyone involved in the war.

Benjamin Wood

1/1/2017 05:25:29 pm

I agree 100% with your response. Your explanation really connects with how Paul actually feels about the enemy. Furthermore, I really like how you included how Paul is trying to connect with the enemy. Your blog post really helps readers understand how Paul feels about the enemy and the war.

Nicole Alonso

1/1/2017 10:59:45 pm

I agree with your response, I find it interesting how hes humanizing the enemy and letting his guard down by not seeing the enemy as enemies; but as actual humans who have a life back at home just like he once had.

Ashley Pierce

12/21/2016 04:21:54 pm

Choose a passage and discuss its significance within the book.

“But you were only an idea to me before, an abstraction that lived in my mind and called forth its appropriate response. It was that abstraction I stabbed. But now, for the first time, I see you are a man like me. . .Forgive me, comrade. We always see it too late. Why do they never tell us that you are poor devils like us. . .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?”
In chapter 9 of All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul experiences for the first time killing a man with his own hands. In the wake Paul realizes the inherent similarities he shares with the enemy and him realizing the consequences of dehumanizing their enemies, Seeing the terror in the man’s eyes and being in such close quarters with an enemy soldier makes Paul reflect on the differences between them. He comes to the conclusion that there are few, they “have the same fear”, they suffer the same injuries “poor devils like us”, and they are both fighting abstractions. Both sides utilized trench warfare firing from distance, before this chapter Paul dehumanized the enemy and viewed them as an obstacle to overcome, not living breathing people. Near the end of the chapter Paul begins calling the man ‘comrade’ he is recognizing the mistake they have made in dehumanizing the enemies and highlighting his understanding of their similarities.

Benjamin Wood

1/1/2017 05:06:09 pm

I absolutely agree with your response. When you stated that "Paul recognized the mistake he had made of dehumanizing the enemies," this really emphasizes the point you made when you said that killing the man with his own hands made Paul realize his similarities with the enemy and his mistake of fighting abstractions.

Jessica Matheson

1/8/2017 10:13:18 pm

You truely did pick a very important passage in the book. Here we see how if we don't dehumanize the enemy in war we wouldn't be able to kill one another. With the word "comrade" their differences left them they were the same.

Jamie Alessandro

12/21/2016 04:27:03 pm

Discuss the rhetorical appeals (logos, pathos, ethos) used to persuade young men to join the army.

In chapter seven Himmelstoss tries to make amends with the young men and Paul tries to reconnect with his childhood but can't and he feels strange being back home. At home rationing is effecting his community greatly as many people died or lived in hunger. At home and in other places people are still told things that aren't true for example on page 140 it say "war-news about the good humor of the troops, how they are arranging dances almost before they are out of the front-line. We don't act like that because we are in a good humor: we are in good humour because other wise we should go to pieces". When people see these they have a sense of pride, like those people are heroes, I'm honored to be apart of this country. Coming from soldiers who have had experience is also a big credibility thing. The government using pathos in putting pride and happiness into their people's hearts(nationalism) and possibly young men looking for a beginning to their lives and ethos because the happiness is coming from a soldier on the front line and in war. On an historical standpoint one of the U.S armies most successful slogans in the 80s was the "Be all that you can Be", this slogan tells you that you are most likely to be successful if you join the army. On a pathos standpoint sense it makes you happy because it rhymes and is in a happy tone it makes you feel happy and proud making young people(like my mom) want to join the army.

Russ Jackson

12/30/2016 09:00:13 am

I strongly believe with your three examples of logos, pathos and ethos; but I believe you could of added a stronger explanation of the example on page 140. For example, you could say how it appeals to logos or ethos as you only described how it connected with pathos. In conclusion, I agree with your evidence and your explanations as in the second example you explained how it showed the other two rhetorical appeals.

Sam Bloch

1/2/2017 01:02:40 pm

While I do agree with what's been stated in this post, I firmly believe that the response could've been a lot stronger if the specific terms logos, pathos, and ethos were defined and used more in the response. If someone reading this didn't know what these terms meant or which one you were referring to in your examples, that could easily be confusing for them.

Alissa Mahoney

12/21/2016 04:34:17 pm

6. Choose one sentence and discuss how the way it is written adds to its meeting.

When Paul,Kat and TJ get lined up again they are sent through a area of woods that has already been affected by the War. There are dead men and body limbs scattered everywhere, as described on page 209. "As everybody we see there is dead we do not waste any more time, but report the affair at the next strecher-bearers' post." This quote shows are truly common it is for them to just see men lying there dead and how it is no big deal just to go and "report it". They way that the sentence is written is very simple but still gives an effect on the reader. By using "everybody" they are showing how many men were just dead. When the author states "do not waste anymore time" here you are seeing that Paul and everyone with them just kinda keeps walking which may make the reader feel upset. Lastly by adding the coma and "next " before and in the last chunk of the sentence you see how simple or quickly they pause for this "affair".

Emily Gittle

12/26/2016 04:47:45 pm

I agree with what you said, especially the mood and impact the sentence has on the reader. I feel like the mood was almost cold in that sentence. There is no comma between "As everybody we see there is dead" and "we do not waste any more time", and I think this brings a cold feeling. The absence of a comma puts these two sentence parts together, which brings a rushed feeling- it doesn't emphasize the fact all of the soldiers are dead, it just blends that with another clause. Because the fact that the soldiers all died wasn't emphasized in the sentence, it shows the readers that it isn't too important. It is most likely unimportant because death is a common thing in war, which brings that cold mood to the sentence.

Kat Dennehy

12/27/2016 03:26:07 pm

I agree with your response. When the author had quickly dismissed the deaths that had occurred it had shown that death was no longer tragic but that it was regular during the war. And when the soldiers "do not waste any more time" it gives off the feeling of being rushed and that they can not waste anymore time with peoples deaths and that it is the nurses job.

Zachary Martin

12/21/2016 04:37:51 pm

10.Discuss the rhetorical appeals (logos, pathos, ethos) used to persuade young men to join the army.

The rhetorical appeals the countries used were very conspicuous, from telling young boys to join the army to propaganda posters and more. One being such from a speech given by Kantorek stating that those who join will gain fame and fortune. His speech shows pathos by saying that they will be recognized glorified if you join the army and survive. Kantorek shows Ethos by stating that other men and schools of whole classes joined the army using the reference of other people to persuade the boys, lastly expressing logos by saying "I believe it will be a quick war, that there will be few losses" Making it logical to go because you will be glorified and for a small price.

Nathan Cupertino

12/29/2016 05:43:42 am

I agree that kantorek does use logos pathos and ethos in those ways. The examples you chose to use show that kantorek is a very presuasive man and he knows how to use rhetorical appeals.

Nicole Alonso

12/30/2016 06:59:03 pm

I agree with your response, although I believe you should add quotes to show how kantorek used Ethos and Pathos in his speech. Also these rhetorical appeals used in the speech added more detail and excitement in the story which drew the readers attention

Erin Gleason

12/21/2016 04:43:29 pm

Choose one sentence and discuss how the way it is written adds to its meeting.

“The terror of the front sinks deep down when we turn our backs upon it; we make grim, coarse jests about it, when a man dies, then we say he has nipped off his turd, and so we speak of everything; that keeps us from going mad; as long as we take it that way we maintain our own resistance.” In this sentence, Paul is talking about the fear that is brought upon the soldiers by the front even when they’re not there. The soldiers try anything they can to keep the tragedies of war to getting to them even if that means making light of the tragic death of a fellow soldier. The format of this sentence adds meaning with the use of commas and semicolons. The commas separate what Paul is saying and gives them all importance in that sentence about the jokes they make when a soldier dies and the semicolons separate the reasons why they do this without creating a totally new sentence. Also the author's use of words like “grim” and “resistance” to allow you to start to imagine what kind of situation these men are in. I don’t think that after this war these men will be able to go back to their normal life like how it was before. The way they have to block out all emotion to survive may carry on into their life post war and could really effect how they live. It’s horrible to see the conditions the soldiers have to live in; cutting off all personal feelings in order to survive almost seems inhumane.

Ashley Pierce

12/28/2016 01:35:52 pm

I agree with what you said about them not being able to go back to their normal life after the war. The emotional trauma they endured due to dehumanizing the enemy and disconnecting their own emotions is going to have lasting affects. The soldiers recognize what they are doing and acknowledge it's necessary to stay alive (which connects to the animal instinct), but it's also a matter of weighing their lives after the war with their survival in the moment. They can live now doing something the know is detrimental to their own health, but they will have to live with the consequences in the future.

Kyle Samagaio

12/21/2016 05:14:06 pm

Choose one sentence and discuss how the way it is written adds to its meeting.

One sentence I think adds meaning to the book "All Quiet on the Western Front" is "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 agin the lost eagerness of my youth.". This sentence shows how Paul wishes for his youth back that he lost due to the war. He wants to be able to relive his childhood and bring back the joy he used to have. I think this brings meaning because it shows the struggles that boys had to face and how they missed an important part of their life to serve in this war.

Leah Alger

1/3/2017 02:16:20 pm

While I completely agree with you, I also think this sentence connects to his eagerness to escape from the stress and horror of the war and finally feel peace again. In this sentence, Paul wishes to get rid of "the dead lump of lead" inside him and regain "the impatience of the future, the quick joy in the world of thought". This is him reaching for his youth in his thoughts, and the ignorant bliss from it. At the end Paul does ultimately reach this peace through death.

Kyleigh Berube

12/21/2016 05:24:25 pm

3. Explain an example of disillusionment in the text.
In chapter 9 of "All Quiet on the Western Front" Paul and the other soldiers realize a disillusionment about the Kaiser. The soldiers had thought he would look a completely different way because, of their government creating a disillusionment. A soldier says " I am really rather disappointed ; judging from his pictures I imagined him to be bigger and more powerfully built, and above all to have a thunder voice," (page 202). The government of Germany created this biased piece of propaganda to make their leader look better. All of the other soldiers couldn't wait to see what this mighty emperor looked like and then, they are disappointed. Then the soldiers get talking about another disillusionment created by propaganda, which was that there country was the only one right. They say " but our professors, and parsons, and newspapers say that we are the only ones who are right," (page 204). This is also a form of propaganda. Their government wants to convince their people that they are right, and that you should be helping them. The soldiers also then realize that the French and other countries are doing the same. They come to the conclusion that none of these countries are really right and, it was all just a way to get them to help in the war. These disillusionments have been with theses soldiers the whole war as a way to motivate and encourage them.

Noah Lamothe

12/21/2016 05:52:08 pm

“War can only happen when the enemy is an abstraction” Connect a specific part in the text to this quote.

The specific part in the text I can connect this quote to is in Chapter 9, when Paul is hiding in a shell-hole, prepared to strike anyone who goes into the shell-hole with him so he remains uncovered, for he is beyond enemy lines, and after hours pass, a French soldier trips and stumbles into Paul’s hole, and out of impulse, stabs the man in the chest, hoping to kill him instantly, but instead, the man suffers for hours on end, and Paul can do nothing but lie and listen to the Frenchman struggle to grasp his last breaths. Paul couldn’t bring himself to end the man’s suffering and eventually felt so guilty that he tried to help the man and to heal him once the enemy forces had passed, but there is no hope for the man and Paul must deal with the fact that he took this man’s life away, and starts to delve into the life the man had outside of the war, and how the man can’t live that life anymore. Paul apologizes to the man over and over again, saying that he would not have killed the man if he were given a second chance and if the man was also peaceful, and that the man was merely an idea, an abstraction, to Paul before he actually came into the hole, but once Paul had stabbed the man, he started to humanize the man, and sympathize, which made him weak and vulnerable and unable to put the man out of his misery, which makes war, or fighting in this matter, impossible to occur, which proves that war can only happen if the enemy is an idea, or an abstraction, or else the enemy will be humanized and sympathy will be felt for the enemy, stopping the soldiers from fighting because they wouldn’t want the same for themselves.

Owen Strobel

1/8/2017 04:44:51 pm

You chose a great example for this task, as this one forces you to understand it, and it is not just a part of the text that you can skip over. I also agree how you explained it shows that war can only happen when the enemy is an abstraction and that the soldiers would not fight the war if they saw the enemy soldiers as people.

Owen Strobel

12/21/2016 05:54:35 pm

Choose a passage and discuss its significance within the book.
"But our comrades are dead, we cannot help them, they have their rest - and who knows what is waiting for us? We will make ourselves comfortable and sleep, and eat as much as we can stuff into our bellies, and drink and smoke so that hours are not wasted. Life is short."
This passage shows the mentality of being in war. Knowing that all of your friends and allies are dead would be tramatic for someone, but these soldiers are numb to the pain. When not fighting, the soldiers would spend their time trying to enjoy their life as much as they possibly could, because they knew they were most likely going to die in a trench fighting for something they didn't care for. When he says " Life is short" as its own sentence, he's explaining how short their life really is. These soldiers didn't even get to experience what their lives could've been, outside the war, but instead they were sucked in by propaganda and disillusionment, to defend their "great nation".

Russ Jackson

12/30/2016 09:10:22 am

I agree with your explanation of the quote from the text. I strongly agree with your explanation stating "The passage shows the mentality of being in war. Knowing that all your friends and allies are dead would be traumatic for someone, but these soldiers are numb to pain." as it shows you need to have a strong mentality being in war as everyone around you is slowly dying and you don't know if you will be next. I also agree with your explanation of the quote, "Life is short" as it being its own sentence creates a strong pathos affect.

Victoria Alves

12/21/2016 06:14:01 pm

Discuss the point of view from which the All Quiet on the Western Front is told. How might this impact the story? Whose perspective do we get? How does that effect what we know as a reader?
In the book, All Quiet on the Western Front, we get a very vivid perspective of war from a soldier named Paul Baumer, who is dealing with the
tragedies of war. Paul’s point of view gives the readers an insight of the pain and suffering the soldiers go through; they become animals. The war impacts the lives of the men severely. We get this raw truth because the point of view of the novel is from a man who experiences all of this bloodshed, if it were told by a character who didn’t have war experience, it may have affected the way the reader might feel about and see the war. Paul’s perspective sets the reader into the war, making them feel as if they are fighting alongside the soldiers, and altering the feeling they receive while reading the pain of war. We learn the reality of the war through someone who is experiencing it first hand, that is something the reader wouldn't be able to experience if there was another narrator that didn't participate in the war.

Victoria Greaves

12/21/2016 07:11:55 pm

Explain and example of disillusionment in the text*

One example of disillusionment in the text is when Paul kills an opposing soldier in hand to hand combat and feels extreme guilt about it as he understands the man he killed is. In the past Paul had never seemed to think about who it is that he is killing because he had been living under the illusion that he is doing the right thing by killing them. This is proved incorrect when Paul stabs a man and gets to know him while he is dying. Paul realizes they are no different from each other and he had been killing people just like him all along.

Emily Rosen

12/27/2016 08:17:26 am

I think this related to the speech made by Kantorek at the beginning, about how the war will be quick and easy and the boys will be back in no time. They are fighting blindly against their opponents who are in the same position as them, and it doesn't really process in Paul until the man he is fighting hand to hand is dead.

Kat Dennehy

12/27/2016 03:33:31 pm

I agree. When Paul was being informed about the war he was told that it would be a quick and easy on with few casualties. Part of this was because of the new and improved technology like machine guns. This prevented the soldiers from seeing who they were killing so they could not humanize the enemy. But like you said when Paul was getting to know the man he was humanizing him because they could see each other.

Meghan Hill

12/28/2016 12:34:33 pm

I think this adds to the disillusionment because Paul was told the war would be quick, he probably did not assume he would be killing anyone during the war...also it made him think a lot more what the purpose of fighting was.

Kyleigh Berube

12/29/2016 08:17:08 pm

I agree, Paul gets this sudden feeling of guilt and regret for killing the other soldier. He comes to realize that what all of these soldiers are doing is the wrong thing but, it is what they were told to do. There is no logical reason why the young men should be dying.

Roisin Mullett

1/2/2017 12:34:55 pm

I agree with you on how this connects back to dissillusionment. Like Emily, It connects back to Kantorek's speech because they were told there would be few deaths, an illusion that Kantorek had put on the boys. Until this moment I don't think that Paul had realized the significance of how wrong Kantorek was when there was a man lying in his arms dead.

Kayla Juskavitch

12/21/2016 07:16:43 pm

Prompt:
Discuss the point of view from which the All Quiet on the Western Front is told. How might this impact the story? Whose perspective do we get? How does that effect what we know as a reader?

The point of view from “All Quiet on the Western Front “ is of a young soldier; Paul Baumer. Paul enlisted in the military during his senior year of highschool and the story is told through his experiences in war. Furthermore, his point of view exhibits, in detail, the traumatic experiences such as in chapter 6, Paul and his team were under a bombardment by the enemy and he had to dig under graves and dead people to have some sort of shelter from the shells. In turn , these parts of the story enhance the severity of war and gives the story a more directed tone and mood of utter destruction through usage of diction such as “ heavy fire”,, “demolishing”, and “we defend ourselves against annihilation”.( all found in chapter 6, pages 105-113). The perspective, point of view, and the struggles gives the readers the ability to genuinely think about the sacrifices many soldiers go through. The perspective given in the book is of a hardened young man who has seen inhuman things during war and how he deals with them through his life. Through the description given of certain experiences, such as in chapter 7 where Paul Baumer has to talk to Kemmerich’s mother and lie to her about her son's death to keep her in some sort of stable condition, the reader has more acknowledgement about the impossible tasks given to these struggles and how they deal with them. Even on leave the soldiers cannot get away from what they have had to live through, and soldiers like Paul Baumer have to live a life suffering from side effects of the war such as shell shock/ P.T.S.D and other severe psychological effects. The perspective and point of view both illustrate these problems and bring them to light using Paul Baumer as a symbol of many soldiers who have to live the same thing he does.

Astrid Rodriguez

1/2/2017 06:10:05 pm

I agree with what you are saying. Because the story is told in first person point of view, you get to see how Paul reacts and what he thinks throughout the story. As the story goes on, the reader is able to connect with all the emotions Paul has described through his experience in war. Through the book, I actually understand the descriptions of the feelings and struggles Paul has went through. With a book told in a third person third point of view, you only get more descriptive details that you can imagine but don't get actual emotions going through the main character's mind

Kayla Vivenzio

12/21/2016 07:17:54 pm

Choose a passage and state it's significance throughout the book.

In chapter 7 of "All Quiet on the Western Front" Paul states, "My mother is pleased to see me in my civilian clothes; it makes me less strange to her. But my father would rather I kept my uniform on so that he could take me to visit his acquaintances. But I refuse." Paul has been away from his home and at war for abut 3 years now. He vaguely remembers his childhood home and family. All he has at war are his friends and family whom which he hopes he will continue to see after the war ends. When Paul is sent on leave and returns to his home town he cannot remember his old self. He has changed, drastically. Before war everything was simple and you did not have to think about the possibility of never seeing your family again, but now everything has changed. His hometown is struggling with the shortage of food and many people are ill. When Paul returns home he notices the little things his mother put aside waiting for him to return from war. Paul returns in his uniform and is acknowledged by many civilians near by, except he is not prepared for the questions they have for him. Instead of being thankful for their service they seem upset about their belongings going to the soldiers, and think that the war is easy. Paul is shocked by the way they treat him. As Paul continues to get bombarded with questions he decides to change out of his uniform and back into his civilian clothes. When he puts the clothes on he starts to remember life before war and realizes he isn't the same person he was 3 years ago. This passage shows the hardships and changes Paul and the other soldiers faced after being in war. It also shows different perspectives of peoples opinions on war. Paul's father for instance only cared about showing off his sons uniform and bravery, while his mother bombards him with his favorite childhood things in hopes to recognize the boy she raised before the war.

Jenna Gittle

12/26/2016 05:40:17 pm

I find the quote you stated regarding Paul's father taking Paul to see his acquaintances odd. When Paul's father wants Paul to wear his uniform so he can take Paul to see his acquaintances, does it mean that his father will not go with Paul if he is not? Paul's father may only want Paul to go in his uniform as to show him off. He'd want his acquaintances to see the "hero" his son had became off at war. This leads to the assumption that Paul's dad would be embarrassed to go out with his son when no one can see that he is a soldier. Paul's father and his acquaintances must have been disillusioned by propaganda and the idea that it is an act of pride and honor to fight in the war; he'd only show his son in his uniform. Not only does this show the power of propaganda and it's strong influence (enough to make a dad think his son would bring him more pride seen as a soldier), it dehumanizes Paul in his eyes. The bond between father and son isn't there if Paul is required to do something just to go out with his father. Paul's father now wishes to show his son off as if he were his dad's trophy instead of his son. This emphasizes the divide war creates between soldiers and the rest of the world and how propaganda can easily blind people from the truth about soldiers and war.

Kat Dennehy

12/21/2016 07:19:13 pm

Discuss a symbol. Identify a symbol in the text and discuss its significance.

In chapter 7 of "All Quiet on the Western Front", Paul is sitting in the "canteen" with his fellow soldiers and drinking beer. To any other person, beer could be a sign of drinking. But to Paul and is friends, it is much more. He explains this in the chapter by saying that "beer is far more than a drink, it is a token that a man can move his limbs and stretch in safety." Paul is saying that the beer had given them some kind of strength to move and do things and by him saying that it was "more than a drink" is indicating that it is important to them and they need it to get through the war.

Brian Houle

12/26/2016 09:25:51 am

When Paul says it's "more than just a drink", he does want to show how important beer is for him and his fellow comrades as something in their lives that gives them strength and relaxes them. But it's important to see that beer also acted as an outlet for the men, beer ways anything that would help them forget and push aside the vivid memories of watching people dying and being killed on the front. Beer was one of the few things that calm the men down from the gritty lives of the front.

Meghan Hill

12/21/2016 07:40:01 pm

Choose a passage and discuss its significance within the book.

Chapter 7 states “But our comrades are dead, we cannot help them, they have their rest- and who knows what is waiting for us? We will make ourselves comfortable and sleep, and eat as much as we can stuff into our bellies, and drink and smoke so that the hours are not wasted. Life is short.” This passage is significant because Paul is beginning to realize that life is a valuable thing and needs to be lived to its full potential. With all his friends dying, he is beginning to think about how he is going to live the rest of his life and doesn't want to waste any time. Based off of this evidence, I feel that in the future, when he gets out of the war, Paul won't take the luxuries he has for granted, and he will take advantage of those given to him; he is already realizing that life is short and he must not waste time, and this shows how one’s experiences can change their outlook on life.

Derrik Rivet

12/21/2016 08:26:39 pm

Discuss the point of view from which the All Quiet on the Western Front is told. How might this impact the story? Whose perspective do we get? How does that effect what we know as a reader?

The point of view is shown as first person from Paul Baumer. The effect of this on the story is it shows how war can deprive a soul of happiness and life and brings about a grasp for escape as shown when they found the French women before heading home. As well, the perspective gives a narrow while a contradictory broad view of the effects of the war on the soldiers. This shown through how Paul is an individual but his throughts are shared amongst his comrades; when they share sexual fantasies, however they have never gone through and have had done the deed because of their lack of life experience which as been withered away by the war. This lets the reader understand the deprivation soldiers go through while understanding the soldiers are individuals and real people and war is emotional and traumatic.

Brian Houle

12/26/2016 09:11:49 am

Paul does tell his story from the view of a man that has been devastated from the ill-effects of fighting in WWI. It also great that you commented on how the depression of Paul was also seen and felt in his fellow comrades. The only thing that was missing was an understanding of how even though the feelings are shared by everyone, how and what does this do to the men individual. what were their reactions to living in such a fiendish environment.

Jessica Woyton

12/28/2016 10:51:34 am

You used some good diction in your response, I especially liked when you said how war can deprive a soul of happiness and life. I think perspective is very imortant to the meaning of the book. the voice in which we hear is our only window to what we know. If the author wants us to feel bad for a certain person or group, he would more than likely write from the perspective of the victim. In this case, Paul is the victim of war and Erich gives a soldier the role of the narrator so we are able to symathize for the soldeirs and rebel or fight against the idea of war. Do you think that a citizen would have the same or a different perspective on war from that of a soldier? I feel that lookign through poetry, the people dont truely know what it is to be in combat. how could you blame them? They are blinded by the idea of respect and honor that comes form battle.

David Medeiros

12/22/2016 06:37:52 am

Discuss the point of view in which All Quiet on the Western Front is told. How might this impact the story? Who's perspective do we get? How does that effect what we know as a reader?

In "All Quiet on the Western Front" the story is told in third person and we get the perspective of Paul, a young German soldier during World War 1 who is constantly on the war front. Because of the story being in first person perspective the reader does not get the most clear idea on what is going everywhere, you only get to see the story through Paul's eyes.
In the book it states "I am still afraid" on page 213. Based on what we know about the story, there are clueless young men at war, we could make an inference that the rest of his friends are scared too but we never know for sure because the story is in first person. If the story was in third person it would show the reader what everyone else is thinking and doing to stay alive and not just him. This would also give the reader more of a feeling for both sides of the war because we are only learning how the Germans are living in their harsh conditions but we never hear about how other countries such as Russia losing soldiers at a significant rate and being low on resources to help them survive.

Sam Bloch

1/2/2017 11:17:39 am

It seems like you're contradicting yourself in your own writing. You said in this response that the story was told from third person POV, and then you changed it to first person. I was confused by this, and other readers probably would be too. I can't really judge the strength of the response unless I know which one your answer really is.

Astrid Rodriguez

12/22/2016 01:03:05 pm

Discuss the point of view from which the All Quiet on the Western Front is told.

All Quiet on the Western Front is told in first person by Paul Bäumer, a young German soldier who is in war during World War 1. Before the war, Paul and the rest of his classmates enlisting in the army were full with youthful eagerness. But all that begins to change. As Paul describes his hardships in the war throughout the book, the reader is able to feel the emotion and pain Paul has to go through in and out of war. Paul feels as if war has changed him because of all the horrendous trouble he has faced during war. The reader also has an opportunity to relate to Paul and his difficult road he needs to overcome. For example, in the end of chapter 7, Paul had just come for a visit from the war and he begins to talk about how the war had changed him into someone else. It says “ out there I was indifferent and often hopeless-- I will never be able to be so again. I was a soldier, and now I am nothing but an agony for myself, my mother, for everything that is so comfortless and without end.” Here Paul is trying to recapture his childhood feelings of youth and desire, but his childhood memories are fading. The only thing he can cling onto is his identity as a soldier. In this passage, the point of view of first-person affects the reader by showing how Paul is trying to cling on his past but can't because of the hardships he went through in war. The first-person point of view shows the emotions and thoughts that go through Paul’s mind and that go beyond the book rather than a third-person point of view that would only scrape the top of the book’s meaning and wouldn't allow the reader to connect with Paul or the main character.

Roisin Mullett

1/2/2017 12:41:30 pm

I agree with what you are saying here. As the book continues on there is a sense of relating to the character,whether the character is sad, lonely, or happy. When the author decided to put the book in 1st person point of view it was a smart choice in keeping the reader interested and hooked to the book. With the descriptions of war throughout it creates a heartfelt response from the audience that the author is looking for. It's a sort of connection that will make the reader keep on reading and actually feel what is happening to the characters.

Jessica Matheson

12/22/2016 08:59:10 pm

Explain an example of disillusionment in the text.

An example of disillusionment with in the text was in chapter 8 when Paul sees the Russian prisoners for the humans they truly are. When Paul saw the Russians he didn't see them as the enemy; he only saw their "honest peasant faces" and how they were suffering individuals. This is disillusionment for nations during WWI created and spread propaganda to their citizens to make it clear to them that there was a difference between them and the enemy. At this point in the story Paul can not see the force that threatens his fatherland in the men but men just like the German that were ordered to kill in this war by their leaders. The same leaders that created the propaganda in the beginning. This event reviled the truth that them and the enemy shared more than what was once told to them; that there was humanity among them both.

Jessica Woyton

12/28/2016 11:04:35 am

I completely agree with you in that propaganda showed the enemy as different than them. I hadn't thought about it in this way, but it definitly makes you think. Just like what we talked about in class (that the enemy has to be an abstraction to make war possible), and this kind of propaganda made it easier for the people to want ot fight becuase it only blurred the faces of the opposing soldiers even more, and soon the men fighting on each side was just matter formed by words and thoughts. In some pieces of propaganda, the countries are preditory animals, and that makes it easier for people in general to think of everyone as different and unnatural. If you were a creator of a piece of propaganda, what symbol would you use to represent the other country? Why?

Nathan Cupertino

12/23/2016 04:36:16 am

7.Choose a passage and discuss its significance within the book.

“Indeed, it was a different time a year ago. It is I of course that have changed in the interval. There lies a gulf between that time and today.” - Chapter 7 page 168

This passage from All quiet on the western front is significant because it shows that while on leave Paul feels that being back home is much different than he expected it to be. It is almost as if Paul is somewhere foreign and strange even though he is home with his loved ones, which is ironic considering he just came back from fighting on foreign lands. It is apparent that fighting in the war has changed Paul emotionally in a way that it will be hard to recover from, and it makes what originally seemed like a happier more uplifting part of the book seem rather depressing. Perhaps Paul never will feel the same way he once felt at home and the war has had a permanent mental effect on him, just as as soldiers returning from the war suffer from mental issues like shell shock. Also the part of the passage where it says “there lies a gulf between that time and today” suggests Paul knows that he has changed and he is not the person he once was.

Kyle Samagaio

1/2/2017 10:19:52 am

I completely agree that Paul knows he has changed due to the war and that he no longer sees things the same. I also like how you mentioned that it's a possibility Paul may have suffered a mental illness like she'll shock like many other soldiers has had. This is very possible considering Paul's time in the front.

Kyle Samagaio

12/27/2016 02:53:55 pm

War can only happen when the enemy is a distraction” Connect a specific part in the text to this quote.

I can connect this quote to the part in chapter 9 where Paul talks to the dead body of Gerad Duval, the French soldier he just killed. Paul says "Comrade, I did not want to kill you. . . . But you were only an idea to me before, an abstraction that lived in my mind and called forth its appropriate response. . . . I thought of your hand-grenades, of your bayonet, of your rifle; now I see your wife and your face and our fellowship. Forgive me, comrade. We always see it too late. 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?" For the first time Paul realizes how the soldiers he has been fighting are actually no different then him. Paul feels bad for killing this man because they are the same and going through the same things. This shows that war can only happen when the enemy is a distraction because if every soldier knew they were the same they would not participate in this war.

Jessica Woyton

12/28/2016 10:24:16 am

Choose one sentence and discuss how the way it is written adds to its meeting.

"It's queer, when one thinks about it," goes on Kropp, "we are here to protect our fatherland. And the French are over there to protect their fatherland. Now who's in the right?" The syntax of this sentence is written in a way so that the question at the end is emphasised. The two sentences “we are here to protect our fatherland.” and “And the French are over there to protect their fatherland”, conflict with each other, and the author wrote it this way purposefully so that the reader would think about this. To top it all off, he leaves the reader with the question; “Now who's in the right?". The reader writes this way to stir questions in the reader's mind. To further create emotion in war, and the confusion it causes through text, the author must make the reader ask his/her own questions. In conclusion, to give conflicting statements and then adding a question to it gives the text further meaning and emotion though the reader’s own thoughts.

Ashley Pierce

12/28/2016 01:49:52 pm

Adding on to what you've written I think the use of 'fatherland' repeatedly is done to stir emotions and make the reader connect to the soldiers. When the reader reads 'fatherland' it drives them to think of their own home and leads them to relate more to the notion of fighting for a cause a person sees as just. Thinking of a personal memory be it memories of home or pride in ones country puts us all into a position to reflect more on the question Kropp poses.

Leah Alger

1/3/2017 01:49:13 pm

Adding onto what both you and Ashley said, the repetition of "protect our fatherland" in both sentences ("We are here to protect our fatherland. And the French are over there to protect their fatherland.") creates so much similarity between the sentences that the only thing that differs them are the subjects - "we" and "French". The following question, "Now who's in the right?", can't be logically answered because the two countries are doing the exact same thing. The only answer in this context is "because they are French" or "because they are German". This connects to the idea of nationalism because the only reason one side of the war is in the right is because of its nationality. This also connects to the fact that the soldiers don't understand why they are fighting and find the reasons they are given (nationalism) irrational.

Lily Hagopian

12/30/2016 01:14:51 pm

Choose one sentence and discuss how the way it is written adds to its meeting.
In chapter 10 of All Quiet on the Western Front the author uses the sentence, “ I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another.” This sentence is describing what Paul is thinking when he is walking around a hospital filled with injured soldiers. He realizes that all of these soldiers are the same and that they were all injured because they were sent out to war with an idea about who was their enemy. This idea was blindly accepted by soldiers, to go out and kill their enemies. This sentence really exemplifies that. There are many commas that link the adjectives together. These adjectives are describing the traits that these soldiers gain upon entering the war and fighting on the front lines. The diction the author chose was very deliberate and linked with the commas, created a very full picture of the characteristics the soldiers adapted while fighting on the front lines. They were all linked together to show the reader that these attributes are parts of the whole picture of what a soldier is and Paul realizes this while he walks through the wards of the hospital.

Brian Houle

12/30/2016 03:02:36 pm

Identify a theme and use evidence to explain its development
In the final chapters a theme of social Darwinism was prominent because of the treatment from the surgeons towards the crippled and broken soldiers. While in the hospital with Kopp, Paul is told how the surgeons will take the soldiers and perform various and unnecessary surgeries upon them as if they were animals. Paul also explained how stories were told of surgeons deploying troops that were in no fighting condition back to the front with little worry or care of their safety. This would show a group of people that profited from all the fighting and death, the surgeons constantly were able to practice on the overflow of soldiers that were injured in the war. The surgeons never had to worry about getting killed in battle they never had to hold a gun or watch men die before their own eyes. While those on the bottom like Paul and fellow comrades suffered from constant fights on the front gaining nothing from the experience beside hatred and lose as they watched so many die at the hands of WWI. Afterwards soldiers that did survive often had no practice working anywhere besides the battlefield and also left during their high schools years, not finishing their education. Compared to the surgeons who could continue with their work, not having to lose anything at all.

Victoria Greaves

1/1/2017 10:09:07 am

Choose a passage and discuss its significance within the book.

The last passage in the book All Quiet On The Western Front is very important to the book as a whole, as it not only ties together the story, but it also shows that death was an alternative to war that soldiers were willing to take. The passage says “His face had an expression or calm, as though almost glad the end has come.” This is important because although Paul dies Paul was just glad for the war to be over for him, even if the way he escaped is through death. He sees an escape as an escape no matter how he gets it and if death is the only way for it he takes it with open arms. This also is shown in how the sentence flows together very smoothly which almost represents the relief Paul felt to not have to fight anymore because it opposes the more choppy sentences that went on throughout the entirety of the book. The book read off as a grocery list of things Paul had to do. To many death seems like a horrible thing, but to people like Paul who have lost hope, are done with the war, and have nothing to go back to death seems like a sweet release from the horrible life they had to go through in the trenches.

Leah Alger

1/1/2017 05:10:25 pm

Identify a theme and use evidence to explain its development

Paul cannot separate himself from the war because of its connection to his adult life and the war propaganda back in his hometown.
Right after high school is the first chance a person gets to explore the world as an adult. It is a period of time where a person really finds themselves, settles down, and begins their life. For most people, this time is where people find love, a job, and establish a life, but for Paul and many others in the war, this time was used for exposure of violence, near death experiences, borderline insanity, heavy clothing, and the realization that their government is tricking children into joining the war. Although it seems Paul would try to escape this horror, this is the only thing he has been exposed to his entire adult life, so naturally their is a connection between him and the war that is hard to escape. When Paul goes back to his town on leave in chapter 7 he describes himself in street clothes as "naked" compared to his heavy uniform, and often thinks about Kat and the other soldiers. Also, watching all of the propaganda about the war around him stating war is a good start to the adult life/honorable, and listening to people glorify him just because he killed some french soldiers was unbearable for him. In fact, he left his town 4 days early to get back to the war because it was so hard for him to hear all these people boasting about war. He has dedicated all of his time to the war, no matter how much he disagrees with it, only to go home and be faced with more talk about war. Although he will be faced with struggle in the war, at least he is living in the truth of it all compared to the lies he is hearing back home.

Astrid Rodriguez

1/2/2017 06:27:21 pm

I like your use of connections in your answer. I agree with your theme and I also agree with how Paul in high school believed that war was a place where you can explore and experience the world. But through his experience, he turns into a emotionless person. When Paul said he felt "naked" in street clothes, I think that he has grown accustom to his war uniform and feels strange when he isn't wearing them. I agree with you when you say that Paul left 4 days earlier to go back to war because it was too hard to listen to people boast about war,but I also think that he left early because he was angered with Kantorek because he had lied to them about the war which Paul actually yelled at him for.

Nathan Cupertino

1/3/2017 12:59:27 pm

6. Choose one sentence and discuss how the way it is written adds to its meeting.

“Let the months and years come, the take nothing from me, they can take nothing more”

This sentence is written in a way that truly portrays that Paul is in a dark place and has nothing left to lose. It is written shortly after the death of Kat, the last of Paul's friends, and it is at this time that the war has affected Paul in a way that leaves him truly alone with no friends left. “...they can take nothing more” shows that Paul knows that since Kat is dead he has nothing left to lose and he no longer fears for anything else the war can do to him. It is also shortly after this sentence is written that Paul dies and the author describes his final expression as calm and that of someone who was glad that the end had come, which shows that Paul did not fear death and when it came to him he was accepting of it because he had nothing else to lose, which also proves that when Paul says “...they can take nothing more” he truly means it.

lee volpe link

1/5/2017 05:31:21 pm

Blog post #2

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