Sunday, February 27, 2011

What's my character like? Read to find out :)

             The protagonist of "All Quiet on the Western Front", Paul Baumer, is a young German soldier fighting during the horrific World War I. Paul and his classmates enlisted in the army voluntarily believing that it was their duty to the country. He feels energetic to fight with his friends for his country; however, as soon as he witnessed a death of a comrade, Paul and his friends realized that war is not honorable, but rather it is a nightmare. Before the war, Paul was a compassionate poet; however, after he enlisted in the army, he begins to doubt his past life. Paul believes that war is tearing him away from his old life; being a young man, he has not experienced a memorable life, he compares himself with his older comrades, who have children, wives and interests. (page 20) Paul's emotions oppose the attitude that he needs in war; he is a sensitive man, shown by his love for poetry. The biggest challenge for Paul is to find a balance between emotions and his survival instincts. 




             The main reason for the start of World War I was nationalism. Nationalism is an ideology where one believes that their nation is superior to others. Paul and his classmates were convinced to join the army because of the strong presence of German nationalism during this time. The Germans wanted to prove to the world that they had the most dominant army and navy at this time because they wanted to build an empire that could rival British and French empire. After the four year war(1914-1918) the German population had been devastated. An entire generation of young men were killed in the war. This book was to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war. (author's notes) The author wants to tell the experience of the young generation who suffered from war. 


Just wanted to tell you some information about World War I


6 comments:

  1. Hey Wilfred!

    I think you have a grammatical mistake in the line, "...being a young man, he has not [experienced] a memorable...". Be careful of careless mistakes like that, not that you usually make them :)
    Your character sure sounds romantic! But if he believes that war is a nightmare, is it only because of the death of his comrade? Or did he already have that slight doubt deep inside him when he was volunteering for the job to serve the army? Would you call him someone who is rash to experience adventure or does he just want to be called a hero?

    btw...sorry for the long questions :)

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  2. Thank You for the correction :)

    I think he believes that war is a nightmare because he did not think it would be so cruel. He also went through different dreadful events. I would assume that he believed that war would be more exciting;therefore, I would call him a rash teenager.

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  3. Indeed our characters have similarities. They have both found themselves in a horrible situation that no person should have to endure. How did your character's view on the war change? Was it due to the conditions they were in? How does he feel about the way the German military has treated him and his comrades? Does he feel the officers are abusing their power? It would be interesting to compare how our characters change and deal with the environment they are trapped in.

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  4. Nice description. It reminds me of my socials class when we went over World War I in detail. It is indeed a fact that many teens were sent to war without much training. It was tragic especially when the opposing forces had to kill many innocent teenagers that is just fighting for what they believe in. I wonder if any other tragedies will happen to him or his comrades later on in the novel. Good Job Wilfred

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  5. Thanks for giving us information about the World War I :D

    It seems there are many novels on war our class is doing and most of them are on the World Wars. My novel is based around the World Wars as well and my book said that 90% of Germans had "unflinching support for Adolf Hitler". Many people including your protagonist were blind followers and did not realize the gravity of the situation they enlisted in. How do you think Paul will end up coping with his internal (emotions) and external (war) conflicts?

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  6. Hey Wilfred, as Kyle mentioned, reading your post definitely reminded me of Social Studies 11, when we learned about World War I, and how nationalism was a key factor to the eruption of the first World War. But with social studies aside, I just wanted to point out that I'm surprised that both your novel and Douglas' novel mention the horrors of World War I. Although his novel is not completely focused around war (at least from what he has read so far), but his character Xavier constantly sees visions of the future, including certain horrific scenes from World War I. Clearly, I cannot relate to to Paul since I have never been to war before, and never plan to. However, I have seen many animations and movies that try to describe the soldiers of war, and how they have to control their emotions if they wish to survive on the battlefield. Well, that's all I have to say, but I look forward to seeing more of your posts =]

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