FREE ESSAY ON ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

I. a) Why didn't he kill the French soldier?
Paul hesitated to kill the French soldier because the littlest ounce in his body felt
remorse towards the suffering soldier. Paul did have some thoughts in killing him, but
when he thought about it, he just could not bring himself to kill him. He talked to the
soldier and explained how their country did not know what they were doing to each other.
Paul just wanted to increase the peace and he felt killing the French soldier would not
do any good, since he was dying anyway.
II. a) Why doesn't the old folks listen to what Paul has to say about the war?
The old men don't give Paul a chance to speak about the war, because they do not want to
hear Paul's view on the war. The old men had their own perspective on the war and they
did not want to listen to what Paul had to say. They didn't really think much of the war;
they didn't consider it as big of a deal as it really was. They really didn't want to
understand the war the way it was.
III. b) Why did Paul swear to Mrs. Kimmerick that her son died instantly? Did she want to
hear the truth?
Paul could not bear to break Mrs. Kimmerick's heart by telling her that her son died
slowly and painfully, instead of instantly. He really did not want to hurt her because he
knew she didn't really want to hear the truth. 
IV. a) How did the war change Paul?
The war made Paul miserable. Paul watches his friends die before his eyes, watches
himself kill others, and sees his family and the interests that he had before the war
slowly fade away because his life had become the war. 
b) What traits of Paul were not changed?
Paul's love for his country has not changed. He continued to fight in the war for his
country although the war was retched and horrifying. His love for birds and drawing birds
did not change, for he died in the middle of it.
V. a) What image of the war most stuck to your head?
The part when the French soldier startled Paul and Paul stabs him was unforgettable. It
was a dramatic scene and it was something that really touched me. It proved that Paul
wasn't just out there to kill, because if that were it, he would have killed the soldier.
When Paul decides not to kill the French soldier, it showed he had some humanity in him,
and that he knows that it was both their job to kill and they were both obligated to do
so. He felt some remorse and Paul had too much heart to kill the wounded soldier.
VI. The film was an anti-war work. Using specific material from the film, evaluate the
statement.
This film portrayed war in the worst way. In the movie, soldiers were conditional to
physical torment. Blood surged, the sound of weapons and explosives were nonstop,
innocent men died everywhere and the terror of the war was agonizing. When soldiers take
shelter in the graveyard, bombs explode all around them; the living hide in coffins and
the dead are thrown from their graves. The destructive power is so great that even the
fundamental differences between life and death become blurred. The impact of war on the
spirit is subtle. They find themselves less able to return to civilian life - friends die
all around them.