Final Post: Conclusion

The beginning of this last section is very different than the others. Compared to the gray tone of the sections before, the scenes in the evacuated village are full of a certain bitter comedy. Paul and his friends make use of the opportunity to celebrate and live a charmed life because the chances to relax and become human are so few and far between. This section was filled with romance, comedy and sadness. Like I said, Paul and his friends got to move to a place where they can enjoy themselves. Even when they are getting bombed on, Paul still managed to finish cooking pancakes and get to the bunker. After they enjoyed themselves. Towards the end of the book my predictions came true. Everyone of Paul's friends have died. The last being Kat who is wounded while Paul is carrying him back. Then later Paul dies after deciding not to go home. The ending is a sad but great ending. I loved this book. It is probably my favorite historical fiction book that I have ever read. I would recommend it to anyone.

Fourth Post

The characterization of Paul in this section is very good. The author uses Paul's leave to give the reader a lot more information about him. For example, I learn a lot about his background. I learned about his family his home town and how he deals with authority. I found out that his mom is a lot more loving than his dad. His dad doesn't really show his love for Paul, he just boasts to his friends that his son is in the military, fighting on the front. This ends up on Paul loving his mom much more than his dad. Paul's leave also shows his view on the war. Being a soldier on the front line, many people ask him how it is fighting. He tells the reader that he doesn't want to talk about it because if he puts the images he sees into words, then he would never be able to escape them. This is the exact opposite then what I have heard you should do. I have heard that you should express what you have seen to your love ones, or else you might end up getting PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Because of this, I predict that when Paul comes back from the war for good, he will develop PTSD. When you die there is speculation that "your life flashes before your eyes". I thought of this and wondered what a soldier would see. I created this "mosaically" that I think a soldier would see right before he dies.

Third Post

All Quiet on the Western Front is a book filled with drama, sadness, and death. Inside the pages of this book I experienced an adventure unlike anything I have ever seen before. I originally thought that All Quiet on the Western Front would have much more action, I was sorry to find out that it has much more dramatic parts than action scenes. It's not that the story doesn't have any action, its based on one of the most dangerous places to fight during WWI. It's just that the author, Erich Maria Remarque, writes the book so that it doesn't have as much action as it could have. For example, at one point in the story Paul finds a trench full of dead new recruits who forgot to put on their gas masks or took them off too early. This could have a lot of action, but instead the author describes it as if Paul was writing a diary the night after, so its more sad and less in the moment. He sort of hints to you what is going to happen next. It isn't what I expected but it is turning out to be a great style of writing.

If you don't know that much about WWI, then you should really check out this link, http://www.greatwar.co.uk/places/ww1-western-front.htm. It is a little information about the Western Front, which is where Paul and the rest of the second company is fighting. This website will give you a little idea of the setting of the book plus a little more knowledge of WWI. In the "French Flanders" picture, you can see a trench. Looking at this will give you a better idea of what the trenches are. It is crucial to know what a trench is because WWI was still trench warfare and the whole book is fighting in trenches. So if you don't know what a trench is then you wouldn't understand all of the fighting parts.

If you still don't understand what trench warfare means, this short clip from the 1979 version of All Quiet on the Western Front shows trench warfare perfectly. If you just imagine the three guys are Paul, Katczinsky and Müller, that is how they would be fighting the French (guys with flamethrower). This video also gives you the tone of the book, the action parts are kind of slow, and many people get hurt.

First Section

So far All Quiet on the Western Front is a great book. It has everything you could want in a book; drama, action, characterization and more. The conflict in the story is the war that is going on (WWI), Paul Bäumer is a German soldier who is fighting on the Western Front. The story follows Paul Bäumer and his fellow soldiers and friends through everyday life as a soldier on the Western Front. The Western Front was where the biggest battles took place during the Civil War. It is amazing what Paul and his friends have to go through.

Katczinsky, the leader of the group, is a very tough man thats 40 years old and seems like he has been doing this sine he was 10 years old. Katczinsky's power and identity is shown when the cook, Heinrich, makes enough food for 150 people but only 80 are there for breakfast, he yells at Heinrich to give them all of the food and doesn't back down until he gets what he wants. Paul also tells this story about how Katczinsky found wood, food, water and shelter when they had nothing to have. Müller, is one of the guys that joined the army with Bäumer. He is probably the smartest of the group. Unfortunately, he dies mid-way through the section. I realize that most stories don't have happy endings so I am expecting most of the main characters to die in this book. This is disappointing to me, but then again it does make me feel like this is an actual story even though it is historical fiction.

I predict that the second company will end up going on an attack and get lost, then they have to fight, survive and protect themselves against anything that lies in front of them. I also believe that Katczinsky ends up die in the next few chapters and they second company has to function on their own without a leader. Although what would probably happen is that the second company will keep fighting and more of them will die from different wounds and/or diseases. I am happy I chose this book and look forward to reading the next section.