Okay so i'm just going to go out and say it, i don't like this book. Here are my problems. So in the beginning of chapter one when the chef has enough food for 150 men and there's only 80 men left why is he hesitent to give them the food? Can someone please clarify that for me? I mean if you have all that food and all these men that are out there fighting and working really hard why not treat them to some extra food! Then thereN's the teacher, Kantorek and his letter. He's the one that pretty much got them into the bloody war and is the one that persuaded them to join because " it's their duty" and will "be filled with pride" and then what does he do, he calls Paul and his friends, who are only NINETEEN years old "iron youth" yes ninteen is young but these men are in war and actually fighting and seeing people die and he has the guts to call them young! He's at home sitting on his butt probably getting more young men to go to war while the ones he called "young" are just struggling to stay alive!
Okay so i know the whole boots thing is that everyone knows Kemmerich is going to die so using his boots are pretty much helping everyone but do those men even feel the least bit of grief that their friend is dieing and their asking for his belongings already!
Now i'm guessing many other's are going to post about this so i'll just join them. Kemmerich's death. The mood i got from that was sad and heart breaking(if anyone else had another mood please do share). I mean watching your friend go the pain of his wound to slowly dieing at only age nineteen! It was just terrible! To be honest i felt like crying, it was really sad and this is a book about war so i'm guessing there's going to be alot more deaths.
http://www.listal.com/viewimage/378584 This is a picture of Erich Maria Remarque, The author of the book.
they didn't give the men any food because it was to keep them tough.Even tough that doesnt keep them tough,it weakens them.i do agree withe the mood heartbreaking because it's sad when you see someone you don't know dies but it's heartbreaking and it's a mental drain when the person you grew up with dies. the part about the iron youth is true, they might be young but that is worsst for young to be in the war because their emotion and mental stability are not as strong as someonee who is older.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kim. I was going to say that it is probably just another dominance that the captains have over the soldiers. Kantorek gets me so aggravated because, even though that's what people were doing (recruiting) at that time, I could never just send out my students to go DIE. I disagree with that part of his personality. Heartbreaking, I agree with, (sad is a tone haha sorry it would have bugged me) and I would also say distressed, gloomy, hopeless, lonely, overwhelmed, and tense, for the same reasons as you listed. Good blog though, the only thing I disagree with is your reaction to Kemmerich's death. It sounds so harsh and mean on my part, but i feel as if its just another death, maybe because I didnt really feel a connection while I was reading, I just kept reading.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Brigette's point about Kantorek. I believe that Kantorek must have blind to not see the tragedies of war and how they take a toll on a person's life, especially a person Paul's age. War is really a emotional stability test. Kayla, i agree with your point about Kemmerich's boots. I can see why you would think that. I also thought that Muller was extremely rude to talk about getting a Kemmerich's boots when he was DYING! Good post Kayla, it really made me think back towards chapters 1 and 2, seeing how I'm already on chapter 7.
ReplyDeleteKantorek seems like a hypocrite if he is telling these boys to do something that he himself wouldn't do and not just telling them but lying to them about how great it is and makes you feel when it really is the complete opposite. If he knew about how bad the reality of war is then maybe he was just building up the confidence of those boys by calling them the "iron youth" then saying how going into the war would make them feel pride just as a tactic to get them into the war. Nobody in the right mind would tell someone negative things about something they are trying to get them to do. Like Kim said, it's also worse for them to go into the war at such a young age since they aren't prepared.
ReplyDeleteNice blog! Continouing with the food. I agree with you Kayla. They have so much food why not ration it between the soldiers? They continously talked about food throughout the first two chapters but they refuse to give it out? Doesnt make any sense to me. Also about the iron youth, there should be a better name rather than Iron Youth, youth refers to the young not someone who is risking their life for their country.
ReplyDeletegreat comments everyone! thankyou kim for explain the food thing to me nut i wouldn't be able to see how thaat makes someone stronger if anything not giving them the right amount of food for energy they'd be week. brigette sorry your right about sad haha. thanks jacob! melody i agree with kantorek is very much a hypocrite, i really don't like him, like how does someone pretty much convince these boys to go to war and risk their lives while he does't do anything but sit on his butt and tell even more men to go to war, I'd like to see him in war, bet he couldn't do that! and thanks emily and yes i agree with you on the food they should be equally giving it out to strenghten up the men so when they got fight in war they'll be stronger and maybe have a better chance of winning!
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