Comparing and Contrasting War Stories

Was it actually fair how war was portrayed to these young boys than to how it actually was? The Red Badge of Courage and All’s Quiet on the Western Front are both interesting stories that explain the reality of war and how young men like Paul and Henry get dragged into it. These stories do not show all the singing and dancing filled campfires, but show and explain what the battles were like and all the anxiety of waiting to go to battle. The Red Badge of Courage and All’s Quiet on the Western Front show how different war was and also show how similar the experience was for boys like Paul and Henry. These two boys do not know what they are getting themselves into when they head off to battle.

Paul and Henry both have different expectations going into war. Henry is enthusiastic about joining the army until his mother says, “The Lord’s will be done” (page 5). He didn’t expect a good bye speech like this before he set off to fight the south. Paul on the other hand was convinced by his friends to join the army as their school teacher encouraged them that “dying for their country was the greatest honor” (scene in the school at the beginning of the movie). This mindset was put into these young schoolboy’s heads as they headed off to the front. Both the book and the movie give an extremely realistic idea of what war was like. They showed how terrifying, bloody, and chaotic battle was. They did not know what they were getting themselves into before they had their first battle, “On the way to Washington his spirit had soared. The regiment was fed and caressed at station after station until the youth had believed that he must be a hero. There was a lavish expenditure of bread and cold meats, coffee, and pickles and cheese.” (page 6). During...

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...uring war back then.

As you can see, both The Red Badge of Courage and All’s Quiet on the Western front are both stories that give such a good explanation of the reality of war. These stories told people how life on the front actually was and how hard it was for young boys to be dragged onto the battlefield with little experience and expected to kill men. The book and the movie have both similarities and differences because they both talk about a young boy that goes off to war and how their experiences and emotions are. They are different because of the differences in time and how war was during those two time periods. The author of the book and the writer of the movie both explain really well what life was like during war and let people what men were having to get themselves into. You can see the changes as time goes on of how war is portrayed in each story.