History 101 Questions - Grade: B PDF

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It is the response questions to Remarque's book...

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Tegha Obire 653530514 HIST 101

REMARQUE RESPONSES 1. All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Remarque is a novel by Erich Remarque, a veteran on the first world war. In this novel the author highlights and denotes the extremities and tediousness of war on physical, emotional, social and mental well being of soldiers during World War I. Furthermore, he goes to depict the disconnect between the soldiers and ordinary day by day life upon their return to their homes. In response to the first question, the author aimed to convey the realities of war from the German front. The author through the use of stylistic language expresses the experience during the first world war as hellish. He slightly surmises that the casualty and brutality explained on the British and French front were no different to the horrors faced by the Germans during the war.

2. Paul Baumer’s character is the main protagonist, as well as, narrator of the novel by Remarque and is an interesting character in the sense that he enables the reader to understand the effect of war on the overall mental well being on each soldier. This is because the reader sees Baumer convert from this sensitive character to a character who is able to detach himself from his own personal emotions. In response to the assigned question, Baumer’s experience depict that thoughts about what unfolded on the home

front were untrue. After his enlistment, Baumer was assigned to be at the Western front he was exposed to experiences that had grievous consequences on his psyche. The breakdown of Paul’s mental state is seen as his attitude towards life takes an absolute shift. He indicates that the war diminished his aspirations and his experience directly conforms to that of past German soldiers who return from war either emotionally and mentally dead or physically dead. Thus not returning to their families they way they left them before the war. The experiences of Paul as described in the novel in essence topples the false notions in which many perceived the events that took place during the war, as well as the after effects on the soldiers who fought in the war.

3. In terms of what would be lost if accounts such as Remarque’s were left unread, perhaps it would deprive the readers of viewing and understanding the effects of war and the bloodshed from the German perspective. Many of World War I narratives painted all Germans in a negative light, but the experiences faced by the protagonist Paul in a sense humanises the German troops that are so heavily recognised to be evil. Furthermore, the failure of accounts such as Remarque’s being left unread would not shed light on how factors such as patriotism affect the choice of German youth to enlist in the army. Overall, Remarque does an excellent job in emotively appealing to the reader the horrors and downsides of fighting in such a bloody war and its overall effect on the wellbeing of all war participants....