1. Knowing all too well Kat's complex, round character via the narrator's descriptions of him and his actions in the novel... Consider why Kat declares, "we are losing the war because we can salute too well" (Remarque 40). Explain the meaning of his words. Are they satirical or just a poor joke? Use evidence from elsewhere in the text to help support your answer.
2. After the narrator and his comrades ambush Himmelstoss, what does Haie Westhus mean when he comments, "Revenge is black-pudding" (Remarque 49)? Identify the literary device employed here, and analyze its meaning in context within the novel by tying together the major themes and motifs which we've gleaned during our reading and discussions in class.
In an ACE'd paragraph please answer the following prompt:
3. A certain matter-of-fact quality pervades the descriptions of the wounds inflicted and received by soldiers; the face-to-face attacks with rifle butts, spades, and grenades; the sounds, smells, and colors of death and dying in this book. How do the soldiers regard mortality and death in such an indifferent manner? Why must the soldiers regard war and death in such an indifferent manner? Point out dialogue and events that lead you to believe that Paul, our narrator, and his fellow soldiers are not as nonchalant as they sometimes sound. (cf. Chapters Two and Four for some excellent examples from which you can draw upon on for your argument.) Be sure to have a clear topic sentence which states your claim, against using the novel's themes and motifs as your final connection and link after your provide at least two pieces of evidence.
1. Kat's comment about losing the war due to saluting too well is heavily satirical and matches up perfectly with his character. The was is being lost because the army is focusing on trivialities rather than what truly matters. Kat further elaborates on this idea with the anecdote on page 44. Soldiers were made to sing, not for any purpose, but only because of the pettiness of the commander. For Kat, the disability to see the bigger picture is what will lose the Germans the war.
ReplyDelete2. The blood pudding is an allusion to the idea of how wonderful revenge is, especially revenge against a superior. In German cuisine, blood pudding is a delicacy which requires meticulous work to produce, similar to the revenge against Himmelstoss. The idea that the revenge is deserved is repeated multiple times in the book. The protagonists believe that because Himmelstoss abused his power, they are entitled to retribution.
3. The matter of fact tone arises both from necessity and from inevitability. When entering the battle field, Paul argued that the men were "instant human animals" (Remarque 56). They underwent an instant transformation that allowed them to stomach to horrors and atrocities of war. Without a numbness to said atrocities, soldiers would be physiologically and emotionally unable to last in the trenches. Furthermore, for men seeing and experiencing war daily, an apathetic attitude is required. In war, a soldier must make judgments that a normal civilian would otherwise not make. Take the scene with the dying soldier in chapter five for example, Kat's immediate response to suffering is to "just take a revolver and put an end to it." (Remarque, 72). The callousness exhibited by Kat is almost unimaginable to an average person. However, in times of war, it was very much necessary. Overall, it this simply further highlight the book message of change, of this detachment that men feel on the battlefield and their loss of former identity.
1. Kat declares “We are losing the war because we can salute too well” (Remarque 40) to critique how authorities, such as majors, are allocating time for the soldiers and the hubris therein. Previously, the soldiers had spent an hour saluting because one soldier did not salute correctly. Kat is known as someone who “within that hour, as if moved by a vision, he would put on his cap, go out and walk directly there, as though following a compass, and find [food],” (Remarque 40). He places great value in an hour and realizes how much can be done given a little time. Kat is stating via satire that the majors are having the soldiers spend too much time entertaining the authority with a parade of-sorts, while there are more pressing matters at hand during war.
ReplyDelete2. Black Pudding (aside from the D&D monster) is a delicacy made from the blood of animals as well as other oats and seasonings. Haie Westhus alludes to the sweetness of the dish to describe how revenge feels and how it is sought after, and also to the methods by which black pudding is made. Black pudding is made by drawing blood from animals, which is a painful process with vampiric connotations. Similarly, revenge is an action that requires the suffering of an individual to bring joy to others. They have decided to ambush Himmelstoss with the justification that he has treated them unfairly, in order to evoke satisfaction in themselves. The same can be said of eating black pudding.
3. The soldiers in All Quiet on the Western Front approach scenes of death with nonchalant words and actions because they are young impressionable men in an environment where logic and masculinity are encouraged above all else. The narrator describes how, before enlisting, he and his comrades “were still crammed full of vague ideas which gave to life, and to the war also an ideal and almost romantic character,” (Remarque 20) until that excitement was pulled out of them in the No. 9 platoon with Himmelstoss. Later, in the field, signs of alarm and fear would continue to be neglected when, for example, the panicking narrator watching his friend die was dismissed by the doctor on staff (Remarque 20). The people going into war tend to be teenagers and young adults. The influences of superiors are quick to act on their psyche and attitude, shifting the way they act into increasingly less emotional creatures.
1. Kat’s comment is a satirical remark on how military authorities concern themselves more with meaningless rituals than with the preservation of soldiers. The immediate meaning of his comment is that if the German army spent more time on combat training or other necessary skills, they might be doing better in the war. This is an example of the break between the priorities of authorities and the priorities of common soldiers- one aims to create a perfect army, and one aims to survive. The division between these also highlights the recurring theme in the book of the soldiers’ almost cutthroat practicality. They mean to survive, nothing more and nothing less. As the protagonist says in chapter six, in the heat of battle, any one of them would throw a grenade into their father’s face if it meant getting out alive. The soldiers care little for perfect discipline or official rations or arbitrary rules. Day by day, they occupy themselves with conditions so filthy and deadly that anything other than the goal of survival seems absurd.
ReplyDelete2. The metaphor of “Revenge is black pudding” defines to the reader what the assault of Himmelstoss means to the narrator and his friends. To them, it isn’t so much of an act of justice than it is a treat, not a right but a privilege. As they say, all work and no play makes for very dull boys, and those who attacked Himmelstoss, not one of them above the age of twenty, were desperately in need of some play. Consciously, they concern themselves with survival at all times, and it wears on the psyche to be constantly on guard, especially with such a lack of basic human comforts. Their work is constantly struggling to gain the upper hand, to be in a place where they do not feel that their very survival is at the whims of a terrifying and faceless enemy. Their play is to finally be the attacker, to feel the satisfaction of for once having total power over an enemy, and it is sweet as black pudding.
3. The narrator and many of his friends are 18-20 years old, adults, but still very young and still developing. These few years between adolescence and full adulthood comprise the period in which a person grows into the world. How they behave, what they prioritize, is solidified in the environment that they are in at this turning point of about 19 years old. “...We stood on the threshold of life. And so it would seem. We had as yet taken no root. The war swept us away. For the others, the older men, it is but an interruption. They are able to think beyond it. We, however, have been gripped by it and do not know what the end may be” (Remarque 20). At the very beginning of adulthood, one is looking for a purpose. To thrust such a person into an environment dominated by perpetual violence and death is to give them the basest purpose of simple survival, and to instill in them that it is acceptable to commit horrifying acts in the name of that purpose. Indeed, in wartime, murder is not only acceptable, it is desirable. The narrator mentions that “Occasionally [French corned beef] has been the chief reason for a flying raid on our part, for our nourishment is very bad; we have a constant hunger” (Remarque 118). In a world such as the one they live in, it is common practice to end lives for a few tins of beef. This is how they have been conditioned to act, the behavior they have learned is essential to survival. It is atrocious, and it is their daily life. These young men have been taught the rules of wartime, and because of the impressionability of their youth, they have learned those rules as a way of life. The pain and suffering of war is understood as part of that way of life, and so nobody complains or, God forbid, deserts. There is little the human mind cannot adjust itself to, and so these men adjust themselves to the way of life they follow. They numb themselves to what they cannot accept, because they have accepted that the war is their purpose, their desires, their lives, their beginnings, and likely, their ends.