All Quiet on the Western Front Essay

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Norman Schwarzkof once said, “It doesn’t take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of the men to go into battle”. As young adults, many of us have a preconceived notion that being a hero is in some way the same as being a leader. In times of war, being a leader defines ones as a superior that others look to for guidance and direction in predicaments; not necessarily a hero. The true heroes are not always the ones calling the shots, but the soldiers who courageously leave their comforts behind to fight on the fronts for their country, even if it results in their death. In All Quiet on the Western Front, written by Erich Maria Remarque, describes the journey of a young man named Paul and the struggles he endures as an effect of the declaration of World War One by his elders. Remarque develops the theme of how older men’s decisions of declaring war effects the younger generation by elaborating on how this declaration effects the younger soldiers’ physical physique and their mental wellbeing.
After the declaration of war by older men, many schools across the world helped further the encouragement of younger generations participating in war through the use of schoolmasters and other students without revealing the dangers war can have on the soldiers physically and mentally. In Paul’s life, his school master Kantorek, glorified the war by withholding war realities by perching to his students that fighting for their country would result in heroism. This inspired Paul and many of his classmates to enlist, but still some were not convinced by Kantorek’s rhetoric. In fear of being ostracized, many obliged to participate in the war. Of course, these glorification where shattered by realty as soon as Paul and classmates ...

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...horrific war, the men do not believe they will have psychological and physical power to continue on with life outside of the war.
The purpose of older men’s declaration of war is to ultimately fight for what one thinks is rightfully theirs. In order to accomplish this overwhelming desire, a military full of strong, fast and brave soldiers are needed. The perfect generation to fulfill the soldier requirements is the young generation. But, no one realizes the extensiveness of a war, or at least mentions it. Paul and his comrades where encourage to participate in the war because they would become hero. Instead of heroes, Paul and his comrades had to differentiate rhetoric from reality, become men, overcome injury and deaths, implement injury and death, and fear life without a war. Paul did not become a war hero. Moreover, Paul did what any other soldier did, he fought.

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