this is an example of a propaganda poster from world war 1, similar to the posters we SOAPSToned in class. Some of these posters contributed to the disillusionment of the soldiers like Paul. They promoted the war and how great it was that they should join to do good for their country, but it the end it just ended young promising lives like Muller and Paul.

overall summary

     When I first started reading the book I did not want to read it, I was forced into reading it and when I was reading it I wasn't comprehending what I was reading, I would read a whole chapter and when I finished it I could not tell you one thing that happened. But as the book continued and after I reread chapters I found myself reading for a longer amount of time and actually knowing what was going on. Though I did like the end of the book more than I did the beginning. I found it very depressing what these soldiers had to go through, I would never wish that on anyone. What is even worse is that this really happened, even though paul or kat or muller may not be real, what they were living through was and there were real life Pauls out there. overall, I beleive that this book was okay. I feel somethings could be changed but the actual content of the book, what it was about was amazing.

this picture is an example of the trenches used in the great war

Chapters 11 & 12

      The last two chapters were very depressing. The war was going very badly for Germany and getting worse for the soldiers. These poor men have nothing, they are simply focused on trying to stay alive through the unforgiving war that is going on around them. They see it as if they focus, just a little bit, on anything other than their survival they are wasting precious energy. I see that as really sad. These men have lost all the joy in their lives, they are simply going through the days barely alive at all.
      Multiple people died in chapter 11, first Detering disappeared and then Muller died quite a terrible death, after the company commander Bertinck "fell", and lastly the great Stanislaus Katczinsky died.  It was very sad. But in the last chapter the narrator, Paul, died in October of 1918. That was the last thing I was expecting but I was disapointed with the lack of discrption on how he died all it said was that " he had fallen forward and lay on the earth as though sleeping." I' m guessing he was shot in the back?
      In the end the book had a very slow and confusing start but I liked the end, it was an ok book.
 
     the picture is of a WW1 burial ground

Chapter 4; page 55

     On page 55 in chapter 4, Paul the narrator, talks of the earth as though it were his friend. He sort of worships the earth. " To no man does the earth mean so much as to the soldier." really stuck out to me. This quote basically means that a soldiers life can sometimes rely on the earths protectiveness. When a soldier lets his body sink into the soft earth he can disappear and hide away from enemies and weapons. Another quote that got my attention was " she is his only friend, his brother, his mother; he stiffles his terror and his cries in her silence and her secerity; she shelters him...". This quote says that he can trust the earth ot always be there, to comfort him and shelter him from the terrors of the war. Others who did not fight in the war do not understand the importance of the earth to a soldier bacause their lives did nit depend on it.

Chapter 8

     Chapter 8 was one of my favorite chapters. It talks about the Russian prisoners. I find it terrible that they have to beg like animals just to get little scraps of food to fill their empty stomachs. What did these men do to
deserve such a horrible fate? The quote on pages 193 & 194 " A word of command has mad these silent figures our enemies; a word of command might transform them into our friends" really stuck out to me. That qoute is 100% true, if these men were born in another country, the country of their enemies, they would not of been treated so harshly, the two sides would even of been friends. It is a mans actions, not their herritage that defines their charactor, defines how they should be treated. I know that it is just how war is, but I still don't that is right. Paul also feels pity towards these prisoners, this is shown when while he is being a guard, he shares his cigarettes with the Russians.   the picture is of Russian prisoners in WW1.

Chapter 2

     Corporal Himmelstoss is first introduced in this chapter, he is described as " a small undersized fellow with a foxy, waxed mustache,". This discription doesn't  really capture who Himmelstoss is. Even  when he is noted as "the strictest disiplinarian in the camp, and proud of it" I didn't know how nasty he was because even if he is strict it doesn't mean he is particuarly mean.  It wasn't until the next paragraph that I more of an idea of Himmelstosses charactor. In the next paragraph Paul tells of all the tasks that Himmelstoos ordered him to do, that was pretty harsh. some examples are " I have remade his bed fourteen times in one morning", "I have scrubbed out the corporals' mess with a tooth brush." Even though this was made up, things like that happened and there were people like Himmelstoss out there.