Literary Analysis- Chapters 11-12

Account

In these chapters the war goes on and Paul’ friend continues to die off. In the end the only two that are left are Paul and Kat. And then Kat is killed when being carried by Paul to a medic after being wounded. Once Paul realizes that all his friends are gone he also realizes that he has no place in this world anymore, and is killed by standing up and taking a bullet to the head, dying peacefully, knowing that his time in this world is gone.

Journal Entry

Sometime,
Yesterday Kat died and I am still numb I believe. I realize that I have no place in this world anymore, all that has kept me here are dead, my family cannot understand what I have been through. No that is not right, my friends here were my family, and they are gone. And so am I.

Vocab words

--influenza- An acute contagious viral infection characterized by inflammation of the respiratory tract and by fever, chills, muscular pain, and prostration. Also called grippe.
-“war is the cause of death like cancer and tuberculosis, like influenza and dysentery” (Remarque 271)
--dysentery- an infectious disease marked by inflammation and ulceration of the lower part of the bowels, with diarrhea that becomes mucous and hemorrhagic.
- quote the same as before

Political Cartoon

Those in power often use propaganda to gather followers. As in this cartoon, the colonies of America in the 1700’s when seeking independence used the scare tactic to gather the help of the other colonies to fight against the British. In the cartoon a snake cut up in pieces is shown with each piece as a colony, it says “JOIN OR DIE” meaning that if the colonies had refused to join those seeking independence then they would be considered as enemies. This relates to the war journal because the German people were persuaded to join the army due to propaganda by the leaders.

Reflection

In these chapters I learned that war takes away everything that young soldiers have, and leaves it with only war. Since the men in the war were so young they had no ties to the world, and when war took them they had nothing to hold onto and so therefore lost themselves. I learned that war is horrible for it corrupts the innocent and leaves them a mockery of everything they stood for.

Literary Analysis- Chapters 9-10

Account

In these chapters Paul first off returns to the front line to find his friends alive. During one of the battle Paul volunteers to go out on a scouting misson. During the bombardment he is lost and he crawls into a shell hole, when a soldier jumps into the hole, instinct takes over and Paul stabs him in the lungs. After a long and painful death of the soldier, Paul finally makes it back to his line after thinking deep about the reason for war. After the battle Paul and his friends return to a town and stay there for a few days, later on the British bombard the town into dust, while escaping both Paul and Kropp are wounded. While on a train going to a hospital Paul and Kropp lose their awkwardness around the nurses due to necessity. While in the hospital Paul meets many new friends and Kropp has his leg amputated and goes into the state of depression. Paul eventually gets better and is put on leave and is sent home, but it is hard for him due to the fact that his mother is even worse with cancer.

Journal Entry

Monday,
I have just been sent home today and I have just seen mother. She is still very sick with that cancer thing and I am no sure if she is going to make it. I have decided to go to the training camp for I have found a friend from school there. Nothing else of interest has happened.
Paul

Vocab Words

--reinforced- something that has had its defense made stronger, e.g. a reinforced wall
-“a reinforced concrete cellar into which steps lead down from above” (Remarque 231)
--industry- the buying, selling, and collecting of goods
-“now we develop an immense industry” (Remarque 232)

Political Cartoon



The ones who decide war are the ones who never fight in them. In this picture a man is depicted sitting in a chair writing a writ from congress declaring war, as well as holding a sheet saying the number of American ships and lost without warning. This is a cartoon showing that the ones deciding that America would join the fight are those of congress, those that would never fight themselves. This applies to the war journal due to the fact that the German government is deciding to fight but is really sending men out to fight for them.

Reflection

In these chapters I learned how important it is for companionship during war time and having friends makes the time go a little faster. The only bad part about forming a friendship with someone is that if you are split apart it makes it so much harder to leave one another.

Literary Analysis-- Chapters 7-8

Account

In this chapter Himmelstoss approaches Paul and his friends and tries to make peace with them. All but Tjaden accepts the apology and agrees to be friends. While going to the front, Paul realizes that it is instinct that keeps them alive and that war has honed that till it is the only thing they have; animal instinct, animal behavior. Later after coming back Paul and some of his friends meet with French girls across the river. As Paul is given leave and visits home, he finds that his mother is sick with cancer. As his leave time passes Paul becomes more uneasy, for he starts to realize that he does not fit into society anymore, that he cannot find his way back into the life that he used to live. After Paul leaves for the front again he is sent to a training/prisoner camp. There he finds the prisoners from the eastern front, the Russians, he is bewildered when he realizes that the prisoners and the soldiers of his country are the same, only that they live in a different place.

Journal Entry

Saturday,
Today while in the training camp my father and sister visited, they gave me some of my mother’ potato cakes specially made from her, as well as the news of her being in the hospital for treatment. I went to give those prisoners some of the potato cakes when I realized that my mother had probably baked those specially for me and so ended up giving them only two, mean as that sounds.
Paul

Vocab Words

--depot- train station
-“they have taken us father back than usual to a field depot so we can be re-organized” (Remarque 137)
--smutty- obscenity in speech or writing
-“they look at the poster and immediately the conversation becomes smutty” (Remarque 143)

Political Cartoon


To survive the horror of war you must distract yourself. As shown in this cartoon there are four soldiers holding a sheet that says Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, with another man bouncing atop it, it also says “it’s all fun and games… until…”. This cartoon represents the fact that soldiers always have fun until it becomes serious, the man holding the explosive represents the danger period where the soldiers stop their fun. This ties into All Quiet On The Western Front by the fact that Paul and his friends are always joking and playing around in between battles to survive, they have a simple life of playing while off duty and becoming serious when the time demands it.

Reflection

In these chapters I learned that family and friends are very important, especially to survive. Also I learned that war is cruel in the way that it not only separates families but it can also destroy them.

Literary Analysis- Chapter 5-6

Account

In the two chapters begin when Paul and his friends begin to talk about what they would do when they got home after the war. After that they make fun of the former drill instructor. After their discussion about the future after the war, they realize that they are unfit for society in the way that the war had drained everything but the war and survival out of them. After capturing a goose Kat and Paul sit in a dugout dreaming about the future and cooking the goose.

Journal Entry

Thursday,
The other day me and Kat caught and cooked a goose, it was delicious, we even felt generous enough to take some of it to Kropp and Tjaden. The other day we got the news that we would be going to the front, and we were. There was even brand-new coffins beside the road, we knew that they were for us. The front was horrible, as it always is. We stayed there for days, there was almost no food in the beginning while we were waiting and in the end we had more things to worry about than food. But we made it, some of us made it anyhow. I still don’t see the reason why the war is necessary, the british troops are just the same as us just with more and better food, but they are still the same, who are we fighting for, what is the use of it all.
Paul

Vocab Words

--louse- Any of numerous small, flat-bodied, wingless biting or sucking insects
-“Killing each separate louse is a tedious business when a man has hundreds” (Remarque 74)
--surgeon general- the senior medical officer in an Army or Navy
-“where they attended personally on a surgeon general” (Remarque 75-76)
--shimmering- a flickering or tremulous light
-“ahead of us everything is shimmering” (Remarque 100)
--forebodings- a sense of impending evil or misfortune
-“our forebodings increase as rum is served out” (Remarque 103)

Political Cartoon

Promising something in return for services rendered is very effective. This cartoon depicts a man handing out flyers saying that if you join the German army then you get a share of America, while the man is whispering the same thing in the ear of another man. This is a political cartoon used to bolster the German army recruits.

Reflection

In these chapters I learned the true horrors of what it is like in the trenches and that governments try to reward soldiers for their impending deaths.

Literary Analysis- Chapter 4

Account

In this chapter the front line is described, also the horrors that come with it. Paul witnesses the event of animal instinct that is necessary for survival for soldiers and begins to think about what it is turning them into.

Journal Entry

Monday,
I wrote home today, it felt wrong to lie to my family but I feel that they would not understand what we are going through right now, anyway I don’t want mother to worry any more than she already is; she is, I am afraid, worrying about me all the time. Nothing else happened of interest, the front line is the same as usual, people are dying as usual, and my friends and I are being our normal selves. Although me and Kat did steal chickens, they were very good.
Paul

Vocab words

1. Bombardment- to attack with artillery fire
“Bombardment” says Kat” (Remarque 59)
2 lorries- a long low horse drawn wagon without sides
“monotonously the lorries sway” (Remarque 74)

Political Cartoon


While the soldiers are away fighting the reporters are sitting around finding names and criticizing the war. This political cartoon depicts a man standing giving orders telling reporters to come up with a name for a war. This cartoon is saying that the war has consumed the world and it needs a name that fits it

Reflection

In this chapter I am beginning to learn the cruelty and horror of war. Life is short and life is even shorter for those who are soldiers in a war, for even if they escape unscathed physical part, they never escape the mental part. War takes everything one has and destroys it leaving only a mockery behind.

Literary Analysis- Chapter 2-3

Account

In the next two chapters the plot continues as Paul’ past is described as well as the conflicts that brought his friends together to form a bond unbreakable except by death. Not only that, but Paul describes Kat and how he helps them get through the times of war.

Journal Entry

Friday,
As I look back to reflect on my past life, for that is what it is; a past life, I think of how we have changed, not only how we act but also how we think. Every thing before is a blur, we cannot remember the way we used to live, for there is only the way of war to us now. When we do look back to the past I think it scares us for we realize that we are stranded; cast off from society, so we don’t think about it much. Kat and I have discussed it a little but not very much. He shares the same opinion about war that I do, the only thing is, is that it is still not very clear.
Paul

Vocab words-


--“Iron Youth”- the youth that went to war in WWI with no ties to the past and became hardened, cast out from society due to their experiences in the war.
-“for all of us whom Kantorek calls the “Iron Youth” (Remarque 19)
--Schopenhauer- German philosopher who believed that the will is the fundamental reality to which all knowledge and reason are subject, that following its dictates leads to illusion and suffering, and that the goal of the good life is its extinction.
-“we learned that a bright button is weightier than four volumes of Schopenhauer” (Remarque 21)
--haricot beans- a French variety of green bean plant bearing light-colored beans
-“but what do you say to haricot beans?” (Remarque 36)
--cobbler- a person that who mends shoes
-“by trade he is a cobbler” (Remarque 37)

Political Cartoon



Propaganda is used to bolster the spirits of citizens during war by exaggerating their winning streak. This cartoon depicts a British army hand smashing into the face of another man. This cartoon was used in 1916 to raise the moral of the allies (Britain at that time) in the fact that it was said that the British were winning the war against the Germans. (not true)

Reflection

It was in these two chapters that I discovered the importance to have true friends and that in war, you have to have them to survive. Also since war took away all ties to your past life it was much easier to develop those bonds.

Literary Analysis- Chapter 1

Account

In the first chapter there are many happenings; first, the food rations are described with the account that men get extra food due to heavy losses in regiment. It then goes on to describe how they joined the war and the first to fall of their friends; Behm. What happens next is they go to visit their friend in the hospital; they know that he is going to die but they act like he will not. Muller is truly introduced at this point, and he is shown as a simple but crude person.

Journal Entry

Tuesday,
Today is a fine day, we have eaten like kings, we have decent shelter and friends around us; for that is all man really needs. It is a simple life out here, and if not for the deaths all around us it would be perfect. We have just visited Kemmerich; we all know that he will not survive more than a few days, he does not even know that his leg is gone, it is most often like that. When we visited him we gave him his things, typically Muller was his crude self and almost spilled the fact about the leg, especially when he saw those boots of Kemmerich’. I am going to have to write that letter to his mom now but I am not looking forward to it. I also should write home again sometime, mother worries so much.
Paul

Vocab words-

voracity- desiring or consuming food in great quantities
“In Tjaden this is voracity, in Muller it is foresight” (Remarque 1-2)
queue- to form a line while waiting for something
“At the head of the queue of course were the hungriest” (Remarque 2)

Political Cartoon

Glittering generality is the exaggeration of actual facts. This cartoon is depicting a woman holding in one hand a basket of food and the other a hoe. This cartoon is implying that the war is going to be won because of the food fed to the soldiers.

Reflection

I learned that in war bonds are formed that would never have been formed otherwise, and that war brings out the best in some and the worst in others.

Trench Journal- Interviews

Questions
1. Who are you writing to?
2. What is the condition of the weather?
3. How is the supplies?
4. Where are you writing from?
5. What are you doing at the time of writing the letters?

Letter

‘Army City' Garnett, Kansas August 6, 1917
My Dearest Mary,
We are in the Army now. I am sitting inside our little old tent listening to the gentle patter of the raindrops on the canvas. It began raining here this morning and it is still at it. No drill today, so I will have time to write a letter or two. We got into the city all O.K., marched up to the armory and had dinner. They have mess in the armory. We have to march back and forth to eat. Eats are pretty good so far as they have some women helping with the cooking.

Set up camp in the afternoon. Shoemaker has been Acting Corporal in our squad. We got the tent up all right under the direction of one of the old heads who has seen service on the border. Some equipment was issued in the afternoon. As my name is down well in the list, I have not received anything yet in my own name.

Corporal Hilton is staying in town so he let me have his stuff. Got pack, gun, poncho, and numerous other things I don't know what are used for. Slept on the ground last night in a tent with just an even dozen in it. Some of the fellows are staying in town at hotels, rooming houses, and private houses. Taken altogether, things are in rather poor shape as yet, but I suppose it takes a little time to get around. A few of the bunch act like a bunch of bums instead of soldiers, but they will get that taken out of them when they get to a real camp.

They got Parker Melliush for kitchen duty the first thing. Walter Anthony was stuck for guard duty last night. It must be fine walking up and down in front of a row of tents watching the other fellows sleep. One thing they did do, everybody had to quiet down at ten-thirty last night. We had a good entertainment before lights out. (We had a light, too, as some of the bunch got hold of a lantern.) A fellow in our squad by the name of Donald gets off some pretty good comedy -- original stuff, too. He is a rather rough nut, but not as bad as some of this crowd.

There was some crowd at the station yesterday, wasn't there? I think I shook hands with everybody in town three or four times. Not a very pleasant task under the circumstances, either. Well, I got so much company in here that I can't think straight. This is rather a poor excuse of a letter, but I will write again soon.

With best of love to my own little girl,
Lloyd S.

This is a letter home from one of the soldiers going to the front line. At the top are some questions that I would ask the soldier if I had the chance, they are simple questions easily answered.

Self Reflection

I believe that this project was really good, it was interesting and I learned an in depth of the goings on during WWI on the front line for both the Allies and the Germans.

What I really like about this project is that I can create the project to fit my opinion about war, and that it is easily changed and viewed, so that when I want to look at what I have done I just click a button.

My work is a visual project with many pictures and detailed descriptions, this reflects my learning because when I learn, I like it to be simple and easy to understand, just like my project.

When I read this book I learned about myself that I am a free-thinker, I do not follow blindly a country or anyone else, I always question everything and try to have an open mind. In the end Paul starts to question the reasons of the war and who it could possibly benefit, because it certainly did not benefit the soldiers, instead it destroyed them for society. What he realized was that the only reason for war was so the few in power could gain more power, that while all his friends were dying around him the politicians were vying for power.

I learned from this and other books that war is useless except for those in power to gain more power, that when they did so they threw away the lives of the people who had no idea why they were fighting. Life is hard; and life is even harder for those with no power, for they are pawns to be used by those with power, as it has always been.

Writing Extension- Political Cartoon

This picture depicts a old man holding a sign saying no war with Syria and Iran, and no war so America can have world control. This relates to Paul because he starts to realize that the only ones who benefit from war are those who are behind it (the politicians).

Writing Extension- War Poem

Nefarus War by Li Po

Last year we fought by the head-stream of the So-Kan,This year we are fighting on the Tsung-ho road.We have washed our armor in the waves of the Chiao-chi lake,We have pastured our horses on Tien-shan's snowy slopes.The long, long war goes on ten thousand miles from home.Our three armies are worn and grown old.

The barbarian does man-slaughter for plowing;On his yellow sand-plains nothing has been seen but blanched skulls and bones.Where the Chin emperor built the walls against the Tartars,There the defenders of Han are burning beacon fires.The beacon fires burn and never go out.There is no end to war!

--In the battlefield men grapple each other and die;The horses of the vanquished utter lamentable cries to heaven,While ravens and kites peck at human entrails,Carry them up in their flight, and hang them on the branches of dead trees.So, men are scattered and smeared over the desert grass,And the generals have accomplished nothing.

Oh, nefarious war! I see why armsWere so seldom used by the benign sovereigns.

This poem is similar to how Paul feels due to the fact that the author finds war to be wasteful except for the killing of men.

Writing Extension- Letter Home

Dear Mother,
I hope that you have been felling better, I wish you to know that all is well here, me and my friends are having extreme fun, right now Kropp is as always argueing with Kat, Kat himself has come up with a rhyme, "Give 'em all the same grub and all the same pay. And the war would be over and done in a day." It can get annoying due to the fact that Kat cannot sing worth a lick. But I wished to write to you and let you know that things are all right here. Plese dont send any more food here to me for I know that things are very scarse there and we have plenty of food here. Tell sis and dad that I love them and that I will see them soon.
With lots of love, Paul

Battle Orders- Pal Battalion

The Pal battalions were battalions formed of people near each other, instead of just accepting the recruits into the main army the people of towns and schools were formed as one battalion, ensuring that they were all friends. There was a success in the fact that many joined but when there was heavy loses of a battalion there were heavy loses of a certain area. Due to this the pal battalions were dropped.

Battle Field Orders- Hellen Burry

Helen Burrey was an army nurse for the Americans, one of the first to volunteer to go over to the western front. In her diaries, Helen writes about her experiences on the trains as a nurse during her time of the war.

Battle Orders- The Archduke Franz Ferdinand

The Causes of WWI were complex and included many factors, including the conflicts and antagonisms of the four decades leading up to the war. The immediate origins of the war lay in the decisions taken by statesmen and generals during the July crisis of 1914, the spark for which was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian irredentist. The crisis did not however exist in a void; it came at the end of a long series of diplomatic clashes between the Great Powers in the decade prior to 1914 which had left tensions high almost to breaking point.

Battle Orders- The Schlieffen Plan

The Schlieffen Plan was created by Schlieffen to defeat both the French and the Soviets simultaneously on two different fronts. The plan was to have an all out offense directed at the French to which they could quickly overwhelm them and then turn to the USSR before they could garner troops. It was a brilliant plan that closely resembles the the tactics of Hannibal. Many believe that if the original plan had been followed then the war would have turned out differently. At Helmuth Von Moltke' rise to power as the German chief of staff. Moltke decided that the Schlieffen plan was inadequate and tactless and so changed the plan to lessen the great hammerhead of troops directed at the western front, causing the troops to not be strong enough for an easy victory. Which resulted in the German's failure in the war.

Battle Field Orders- The Red Baron

World War I was a bloody war, fought in muddy trenches and overwhelmed with slaughter. Yet a few soldiers escaped this anonymous end - fighter pilots. They volunteered to fly when just going up in an airplane seemed heroic. However, most fighter pilots achieved only a few victories before they too were shot down.

Yet, there was one man, Baron Manfred von Richthofen, who liked to fly in a blazing red airplane and shot down plane after plane. His achievements made him both a hero and a propaganda tool. With 80 credited victories, Baron Manfred von Richthofen, the "Red Baron," defied the odds and became a legend in the air.

Von Richthofen was killed just after 11 a.m. on 21 April 1918, while flying over Morlancourt Ridge, near the Somme River. While pursuing a Canadian pilot Richthofen was hit by a single .303 bullet that caused such severe damage to his heart and lungs resulting in his speedy death. Before dying he managed to make a hasty but controlled landing in a field on a hill near the Bray-Corbie road, just north of the village of Vaux-sur-Somme, in a sector controlled by the Australian Imperial

Force.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manfred_von_Richthofen

Battle Field Orders- Chemical Warfare

During the WWI, there was a major military innovation. Part of that innovation was the use of chemical gasses in war. The gases ranged from disabling chemicals, such as; tear gas, mustard gas, to lethal agents like phosgene. Chemical warfare was a major component of the Great war; although the death rate was about 4% compared to combat deaths it was still the most feared way to die by the soldiers. Due to the widespread use of chemical warfare, and of the ability to create counter measures, its overall effectiveness was diminished.

Battle Field Orders- No Man's Land

No Man's Land is the area of land between two enemy trenches that neither side wishes to openly move on or take control of due to fear of being attacked by the enemy in the process.

Battle Field Orders- WWI Weapons

In WWI there were many weapons deployed that had never been used before, these weapons changed war itself; how war came about and how it was fought.One of them is the flamethrower or the German name(Flammenwerferapparate). It was not until 1911 that the German army accepted the flamethrower, creating a specialist regiment of twelve companies equipped with them. It was a fearsome and destructive weapon but it had its drawbacks; it was cumbersome and difficult to operate, and it was only effective at very close range, not common in the trenches in WWI. But it was still used throughout the war.

The Tank: in WWI the first tanks were used by the British, of the allies only the British used the tanks and the Germans created only 15 of them by the end of the war. there are many advantages to having a tank, you can cross all trenches no matter the defense. This affected how war is waged because it eliminated the need for trenches and trench warfare.

The Machine Gun: the machine was a terrible weapon, it could spray a field with bullets in seconds and earned a fearsome reputation. During the time of WWI many new inventions never seen before came about, for example; the machine gun mounted on an airplane (the airplane took on a new meaning and use after that), and many smaller lighter automatic weapons were also invented.

The Sub: the sub was an effective and deadly way to kill ships; the German subs (U-boats) at the beginning of the war destroyed multiple ships without warning and continued to do so until politic interfered, had the US not put pressure on Germany, Germany probably would have won the war due to the allies having no reinforcements and supplies. The sub changed the way of naval combat forever, due to their effectiveness they were by WWII being created in all major countries.

Three major roles were defined for aircraft during the First World War: reconnaissance, bombing and fighting. Airplanes were used first for aerial scouts—spying on the enemy from the air and learning their secrets. At first the scouts ignored their enemy numbers, then began shooting at them with rifles and eventually with machine guns. Soon they began dropping hand grenades from their planes. Promptly an aircraft was designed for each need: reconnaissance planes some armed for defense; fighter planes, exclusively designed for shooting down other planes; and bombers carried more immense loads of explosives. Much of what we know and learn today about war birds came from the fundamental experiences of the pilots of the First World War.

3" Mortar: the mortar gun was essentially a bomber, it was pointed at a 45 degree angle and could fire 22 rounds a minute, the bombs were extremely destructive and effective and so therefore they were widely used and many newer and better creations came from it changing warfare once again. Because they were so effective they were added onto tanks, planes, and put in trenches (lighter models).