all quiet on the western front comradeship essay

All Quiet on the Western Front

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For Paul , the one positive aspect of the war experience is that it forges extraordinarily strong bonds between soldiers. The men of the Second Company are comrades-in-arms, closer than family or even lovers. They have seen unspeakable horrors and endured unimaginable suffering together, experiences they will never be able to share with those who did not fight. The war creates sharp distinctions between soldiers and civilians, but it erases other distinctions. Class divisions, for example, are no longer significant: well-educated young men like Paul fight and die alongside peasants like Detering .

Comradeship is such an intense bond that one would expect the death of one soldier to trigger a strong emotional reaction from the others. But grief is a luxury these battle-hardened soldiers cannot afford. Apart from brief outbursts of rage or sorrow, the men are unable to properly mourn their fallen friends. Paul becomes increasingly numb to these losses over the course of the novel, as he watches every single one of his friends die. Paul continues fighting after the death of his last and closest friend, Kat , but he seems to have lost the will to survive. The novel’s final paragraph suggests that Paul accepts and even welcomes his own death.

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Comradeship Quotes in All Quiet on the Western Front

Though Müller would be delighted to have Kemmerich's boots, he is really quite as sympathetic as another who could not bear to think of such a thing for grief. He merely sees things clearly…We have lost all sense of other considerations, because they are artificial. Only the facts are real and important for us. And good boots are scarce.

Had we gone into the trenches without this period of training most of us would certainly have gone mad. Only thus were we prepared for what awaited us. We did not break down, but adapted ourselves; our twenty years, which made many another thing so grievous, helped us in this. But by far the most important result was that it awakened in us a strong, practical sense of esprit de corps, which in the field developed into the finest thing that arose out of the war—comradeship.

If you train a dog to eat potatoes and then afterwards put a piece of meat in front of him, he'll snap at it, it's his nature. And if you give a man a little bit of authority he behaves just the same way, he snaps at it too. The things are precisely the same. In himself man is essentially a beast, only he butters it over like a slice of bread with a little decorum. The army is based on that; one man must always have power over the other.

We sit opposite one another, Kat and I, two soldiers in shabby coats, cooking a goose in the middle of the night. We don't talk much, but I believe we have a more complete communion with one another than even lovers have. We are two men, two minute sparks of life; outside is the night and the circle of death. We sit on the edge of it crouching in danger, the grease drips from our hands, in our hearts we are close to one another…What does he know of me or I of him? formerly we should not have had a single thought in common--now we sit with a goose between us and feel in unison, are so intimate that we do not even speak.

I am frightened: I dare think this way no more. This way lies the abyss. It is not now the time but I will not lose these thoughts, I will keep them, shut them away until the war is ended. My heart beats fast: this is the aim, the great, the sole aim, that I have thought of in the trenches; that I have looked for as the only possibility of existence after this annihilation of all human feeling; this is a task that will make life afterward worthy of these hideous years.

Now I hear muffled voices. To judge by the tone that might be Kat talking…These voices, these quiet words, these footsteps in the trench behind me recall me at a bound from the terrible loneliness and fear of death by which I had been almost destroyed. They are more to me than life, these voices, they are more than motherliness and more than fear; they are the strongest, most comforting thing there is anywhere: they are the voices of my comrades. I am no longer a shuddering speck of existence, alone in the darkness;—I belong to them and they to me; we all share the same fear and the same life, we are nearer than lovers, in a simpler, a harder way; I could bury my face in them, in these voices, these words that have saved me and will stand by me.

This is the first time I have killed with my hands, whom I can see close at hand, whose death is my doing. Kat and Kropp and Müller have experienced it already, when they have hit someone; it happens to many, in hand-to-hand fighting especially— But every gasp lays my heart bare. This dying man has time with him, he has an invisible dagger with which he stabs me: Time and my thoughts.

"Comrade, I did not want to kill you…But you were only an idea to me before, an abstraction…now, for the first time, I see you are a man like me. I thought of your hand-grenades, of your bayonet, of your rifle; now I see your wife and your face and our fellowship…Why do they never tell us that you are poor devils like us, that your mothers are just as anxious as ours, and that we have the same fear of death, and the same dying and the same agony—Forgive me, comrade; how could you be my enemy? If we threw away these rifles and this uniform you could be my brother just like Kat and Albert. Take twenty years of my life, comrade, and stand up—take more, for I do not know what I can even attempt to do with it now."

• All Quiet on the Western Front

Erich Maria Remarque

• Literature Notes
• Essay Questions
• Book Summary
• About All Quiet on the Western Front
• Character List
• Summary and Analysis
• Character Analysis
• Paul Bäumer
• Himmelstoss
• Franz Kemmerich
• Albert Kropp
• Gérard Duval
• Character Map
• Erich Maria Remarque Biography
• Critical Essays
• Major Themes
• Rhetorical Devices
• A Note on World War I and Its Technology
• Full Glossary
• Practice Projects
• Cite this Literature Note

Study Help Essay Questions

1. Remarque's novel presents nature in many moods and for many purposes. Discuss Remarque's use of nature throughout the novel, using examples when possible.

2. This World War I novel is a story of powerful bonding among men. Using examples from the book, explain how Remarque develops his idea of comradeship in the face of battle.

3. Study the few places where women enter Remarque's novel. What role do they play in his book?

4. From the very title of the novel through the grim ending, Remarque uses irony. Using several examples from the myriad choices, explain his use of irony in the novel.

5. Discuss Remarque's extensive use of simile, particularly in comparing the battlefield with nature.

6. The progress of the war can be seen though the author's descriptions of the few comforts of the front. Paul and his friends are constantly occupied with the search for food, shelter, and the creature comforts. How can the reader follow the progress of the war through their search?

7. Was Paul's death at the end of the novel a blessing or a tragedy? Take a stand and defend your opinion based on the incidents of the novel.

8. Using specific examples from the novel, show how Remarque's descriptions of life at the front seem to reduce humans to animals.

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Comradeship in "All quiet on the western front"

v04 1 / -   Oct 25, 2010   #1 So, I got my essay back from the teacher today with lots of feedback, yet I don't know how to change it for the better. "We did not break down, but adapted ourselves; our twenty years, which made many another thing so grievous, helped us in this. But by far the most important result was that it awakened in us a strong practical sense of esprit de corps, which in the field developed into the finest thing that arose out of the war - comradeship." P26 In Remarques depiction of the trench warfare of world war one in the book all quiet on the western front there is no such thing as heroes or heroical selfsacrifying victims, it all comes down to a group of men whom has barely anything in common at the very first but ends up as relatives due to the comradeship that is developed. You might think something like "Hey they have got so much in common! Some of them were friends from before they even went into the war". But there is a difference between friendship and comradeship. Individuality is what you're looking for in friendship, while in comradeship it is as I already said forced upon them, commonality - the war. Now you might also think that I am a hypocrite, saying that they end up as relatives but that friendship and comradeship are two different things, here's how I see it; relatives are as comrades, they do not have to like eachother, thus they can not do anything about it, they have something in common. Notwithstanding that they chose to join the army the comradeship is afterall forced upon these men, as the war. They have not chose whom they're fighting this war with. Even though there are so many different personalities in this story, personal chemistry does not become an issue. I don't think they have time to concider what they think is annoying about eachother, that would destroy them, so they all adjust. This creates comradeship, since they have to care for eachother and they have to trust one another! Whom dies does not matter for long, for they can nothing do to prevent it, all they can do is keep fighting, and staying alive. "There are a hundred and twenty wounded men lying somewhere or other; it is a damnabble business, but what has it to do with us now - we live. If it were possible for us to save them, then it would be seen how much we cared." P.139 Despite all this terror they keep on, they forget, and make stronger bonds with whomever is still alive. I think that the comradeship reaches its climax when the group are ordered to guard a village where they can live quite good in variation to the trench at the front. The group of soldiers becomes so full of themselves whilst having such a good time that they make sarcastic jokes against eachother. "We put on extraordinary airs, every man treats the other as his valet, bounces him and gives him orders there is something itching under my foot; Kropp my man catch that louse at once, says Leer, poking out his leg at him like a ballet girl." P.238 Despite that Remarque may from time to time describe their comradeship as a good outcome from the war, it is all wrong, it is all awful and terrible. The author Ernest Hemingway once said; Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime. Even though that these men had some good/better times during the war, it was not a good thing, it does not matter how fine their comradeship was, it does not justify the war. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------- So, the feedback I got was the following: "Trying to get it" -Immature or limited focus-- can't get the reader's attention -Paraphrasing through over quoting -Implies analysis, but inadequate -Poot analogies/poot allusions trying to be literary -Clinches used instead of fresh expressions -Funnel opening using truisms and platitutes -No sense of completion You should use the first quote in the body. Teacher didn't get the idea of the paragraph starting with: "you might think something like.." and wanted me to indent it. Teacher did not understand the part: " Now you might also think that I am a hypocrite" ( is it not obvious?) He wanted me to tie the quote " we put on extraordinary airs..." to my thesis.. how am I supposed to do this? And I got some good feedback on my great ending.. Thanks

Jake776 2 / 6   Nov 1, 2010   #2 The first sentence needs punctuation. It makes no sense as is. Should read more like, In Remarque's depiction of World War 1 trench warfare, outlined in the book, All Quiet on the Western Front there are no such things as heroes or self-sacrificing victims. Then start a new sentence

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All quiet on the western front comradeship.

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                          A comrade is a companion or a friend, throughout the book written by Erich Maria Remarque, called All Quiet on the Western Front;(AQWF) the recruits share a tight bond between each other. The recruits also shared a lasting and laudable attitude to comradeship and their love towards one another. The recruits counted on each other and they trusted each other at all times. The goose incident shows that comradeship means everything to the soldiers. .              As Kat and Paul sit down by the fire and roast the goose. Paul realizes that he looks up to Kat and he considers Kat as a father to him. Paul and Kat shared everything with each other and they had many similarities. Both Kat and Paul would have never known each other during peacetime, but the war had brought their lives together in a crucible of horror. .              At the starting of the war, many recruits had to leave their families to join hundreds of other recruits who left their love ones behind also. The recruits counted on each other and each of them had strong friendships towards each other. The recruits soon considered each other as family as most of the men left their own families back at home. They did everything a family would do in a terrifying situation. The recruits protected and looked out for each other, they also got along very well. When the men witness the war and how depressing it is, they go to each other for moral support. The sounds of shells roaring in the skies scared the men and the men started losing confidence in themselves but the fact that each recruit had the same feelings about war they helped each other get over their fears. Each company did everything they could to love and care for each other. When a recruit was injured they would shoot the man to take him out of his misery. They cared so much for each other that they would kill an injured recruit so they no longer have to suffer and die slowly. The cries from the injured men really impacted many recruits" lives and it made them think about death and pain.

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