War And Its Costs World War One — страница 2

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home he goes to speak to his mother, but he realizes that they have nothing to say to each other, 5“We say very little, and I am thankful that she asks nothing.” But finally she speaks, “Was it very bad out there, Paul?” “Mother, what should I answer to that? You would not understand, you could never realize it. And you never shall realize it. Was it bad you ask? You, mother, I shake my head and say: “No, mother, not so very. There are always a lot of us together so it isn’t so bad.” In this part Paul is thinking to him self and then tells his mother a lie that everything is all right. He does this to protect his mother from hearing about the inhumane conditions from which he has just returned. 6In another scene Paul was trapped in a trench and started to panic.

Once he had heard the voices of his comrades he had settled down thinking that everything was all right. Robert’s enlistment to the war was a choice made all by him self. Robert seemed to get use to the thought of being a soldier but remained more relaxed. He led his life as though he was out of the war. He made it seem as though the war was just a background and a minor complication in his life. He kept talking to his parents and he perused to love Barbara D’Orsey. 7He met her while he was on leave after being injured on the front and keeping an eye out for his practically dead friend, Harris. Robert also had time to make friends on his voyage during the war. He described his story as if there was no war going on. 8In the beginning of the book him and a few comrades went to

a whorehouse. This was going to be Robert’s first time having slept with a woman. Robert didn’t want to go in but had to so he could fit in with the other men. The prostitute had realized this was going to be his first time by his silence and by the way that he ejaculated before he was even touched. This seemed to be a part of the book just to show how young Robert was and how he tried to fit in. 9Paul’s description of the graveyard scene seems to be symbolic and also a very thorough description. Near the end of the book the allied forces attacked a graveyard in which Germans were passing through. This was right before Paul got trapped in the trench where he killed the soldier from the opposing side. In one instance of that scene Paul says, “I am fighting a crazy confused

battle. I want to get out of my hollow in the ground but I keep on slipping back in.” Paul is just describing what the trench seems like and what is going on around him and to follow that he also says, “The machine guns are rattling away. I know that barbed wire entanglements are firm and pretty well undamaged … They aren’t getting through. They’ll have to turn back.” Paul mainly describes the things going on around him in the war, such as the artillery, barbed wires, and the soldiers. Robert’s portrayal of the war was quite imaginable. 10In one part of the book Robert and his men are on their way to a meeting point with their horses. Robert took a wrong turn and went through a dike. A dike is like quick sand filled with gases. Robert noticed the smell of chlorine

and phosgene. “What is that smell” he asked Poole. “Prob’ly chlorine” Poole replied. 11The use of chlorine gas was really used mainly by the Germans and it was the first time the use of gas at such a large scale was used. Robert also described the men he and Poole were stuck with in the trench. 12One man, Devlin, said he was an artist. He went through the war collecting stained glass from churches, and portraits of Jesus and the Virgin Mary. Another man had kept rabbits, birds, hedgehogs, and toads. Robert made it seem as though these men were crazy. He also described the amount of deaths, which occur during a few battles. 13The first night Robert actually fell asleep, which was the morning of the 28th of February at 4 a.m. the Germans set off land mines at St. Eloi

Salient. It lasted five days and 30,000 men would die, yet not an inch of ground had been gained. Many battles like these have been fought in the war such as The battle of Somme, and the battle of Ypres which Robert makes a small reference to. Also the trenches described are also described exactly how they really were. “The war to end all wars” was clearly proven wrong in the future. It seems as though all the fighting that the soldiers did was for nothing but to gain back land which was already the same country’s land. The young soldiers were ambitious to fight for their country so they did not hesitate to enlist into the army. Parents, teachers and other model figures taught the teenagers/children the wrong thing. Not to fight for pride, or for becoming a hero, or even