Blog Post #1: Prompt 5

I have just finished reading chapter 2 in the novel, and I have already been devastated by the struggles faced by these soldiers. Paul has just watched Franz Kemmerich die in the infirmary, but the agony in his death was extremely moving. I was saddened by the way in which Erich Maria Remarque describes the intimate moment between the boys. The fact that these so called 'men' are really just young boys is stressed greatly in this chapter. They're only 2 years older than I, but have to deal with death all around them. Paul watches as a school mate's life ends without anyone else who really cares. The doctors aren't neglecting Franz, but the fact that World War I killed so many men desensitizes them and really makes his death seem like he was all alone. Muller's inquiries into Franz's boots only make the horror of this desensitization reinforced and leaves me with a feeling a thankfulness, because I never have to face these types of hardship.

Introduction to All Quiet on the Western Front

I decided to pick All Quiet on the Wester Front for my independent reading project. I chose this book because I've heard it mentioned before as a classic book. It is a war novel from the 1920s that follows a German troop during World War I. The descriptive summary on the back cover tells me that it is about a young man who is thrown into the War and doesn't expect the level of violence and horror that he witnesses. He is against the pointless fighting between young men for a purpose that doesn't even apply to him. I feel this topic is an interesting theme to read about and that the struggles of soldiers in wars is something people should all be informed of, considering most people will never be in such circumstances in there lives.