All Quiet on the Western Front- Number 4

Authors Note

Chapter Four spoke to me as one solider ran out from his cover to assist another man in putting on his gas mask. For no personal reason did he feel the need to help this man- but he felt the urge, the need, and the sense of liberating certainty in performing this act of kindness. My short story highlights the concept projected here with the random act of kindness this man feels through impulse, just as a solider would do for another.

 

Droppings shoot at the dashboard like bullets. White clouds pan out as far as the eye can see- how amazing that I keep straight. *The cars disappear, they are invisible, dissolved, eaten by the storm. Faded red lights- those are what I follow. Faded lights and tire tracks. Inching, as slowly as possible. My eyes glued themselves to the road, monitoring the tracks of the man in front of me. As I felt my car vibrate under my feet and shake uneasily I swerve my wheels to the left and look back for the lights. But I saw different lights now. They were faded too, but these ones blinked, and they were farther away, and they were downward. As I came about realizing that the tracks that so almost lead me to the hole had veered off of its original path, a saw a man; in my side mirror I saw a man, in the ditch- that’s when I stopped. I may never see this man after today, but for his own sake, neither may his family.

            People ask me why I stopped. The worst blizzard of the year attacked my body as it tossed me around in the air and pelted my fact with hail, and I stopped. Why would I do such a thing? Risk my safety? Risk my life- for a man whom I do not even know?

            Why so many questions? Where is the level of confusion upon my gesture? Not a second went by in my mind that questioned my assistance to this man. I very well could have been in the same position as him, with no help to my name just the same. The grace of my aid accounted as more or less of a facilitate to him, but as for me, it was, as you say, all in a day’s work.

*The wood vanishes, it is pounded, crushed, torn into pieces.

All Quiet on the Western Front- Number 3

Authors Note

This response highlights the similarities of the naïve life of a child and torturing life of an army soldier. In the regular font is the mind of a young boy and the italics is the mind of a combatant and a day in the life of each of them. Their thoughts, so similar, under such opposite circumstances are so fascinating and in the slightest twist, a sense of irony in the situation can be unraveled.

“Come on honey you have to get up for school. The bus comes in 20 minutes.” “Ugh, only because I have to.” I wish I didn’t have to take the bus. I wish I could just sleep in for as long as I want, every day. My bed is so comfy too, I don’t want to move. But Mommy says I have to go. She said it’s called ‘following a schedule’. Whatever that means.

 “You’re late men! It is 400 hours it’s time to get moving let’s move! Move, move, move!” I want to lie here on my stomach; my body wrapped in my sheets and my face stuffed in my pillow for just a little bit longer- five more minutes. But I know I cannot do that; I am forced to follow orders. And I’m already late- 400 hours? Whatever that means.

“Guys be quiet! Come on guys!” Ms. Woody said if we can stay quiet all the way down the halls for the rest of the day we get a movie party! “Shh, guys!” Single file- No one can move and no one can talk, that’s all I know. This is important.

“Atten-Hut!” General Woody said if a man steps beyond his boundaries he’s not going to like his consequences; now I’m not sure what those consequences are but I’m not ready to find out. He’s coming! Stand up straight- nice and tall! This is important.

“Now Johnny you say you’re sorry or you are not going outside for recess.” I hit Andy. But he started it! I didn’t even do anything wrong! “I’m sorry.” I didn’t mean it. But I guess if I’m sneaky I can get what I want. And I guess if I do what I’m told I get what I want. I did what I was supposed to do, right?

“Do you understand your order Private Jonathan?” I don’t think I can do this anymore. I thought this would be easier to do once I got here; but it isn’t. I can’t do this, I won’t do this. “Yes Sir! General, Sir!” But open fire on innocent people? That isn’t fair. But this is my job- my order. And here’s my signal…

            How would I ever become Corporal or a General for that matter if I didn’t take my first steps? I’ve been taught to do what I’m told to get what I want. I followed my orders. I did what I was supposed to do, right?

All Quiet on the Western Front- Number 2

Author's Note

The naive innocence in the life of a child can relate to the treacherous lives of soldiers in the war in more ways than we realize. All Quiet on the Western Front underlines the depth of relation between the two polar worlds, but yet how identical they really are.

The indefinable loss of purity in growing up too quickly is not only painful but mislaid. Destruction and death seems to young men as all fun and games- until someone is hurt. The strive for power and control is all liberating and enthralling- until you lose sight of what good the value that the power truly has. In the grand scheme of things, the approach of war highlighted itself as a place of courageous and daring heroes- until living in it invites the idea that these brave men are more or less children in uniform. These soldiers are nothing more than boys! Boys with dreams of power; boys with a message to send; boys with a point to prove. While they live as fighters, they are living under the watch of a general- a father figure. Obeying the consistency of a schedule and doing as they are told highlights the longing of order in their lives. Listening to the commands of their officers exhibits no more than the reliability toward their boss, but following orders as they are told, as we had been taught to live by as children. Organization and obedience signify not just the order of life in the armed forces, but the order of a kindergarten classroom we all go back to, every once and a while.

All Quiet on the Western Front- Number 1

Authors Note

As these men are thrown instantly into a workforce as intense as the army, they are forced to teach themselves to live on their own, fend for themselves, and live within their own tortured minds throughout this time of emotional distraught. Within the danger of this story, it can be picked up- this sense of structure and attention given to these men in forms of childlike manner.

           The divinity between the gentleness of emotions and the powerhouse of confidence that “adults” continuously attempt to override with masculinity defines the concept of the Iron Youth. As men are conscripted to the war, their protective, defensive mentality expands to a higher level of expectation in their own subconscious. The tedious usage of childlike references implies directly to the youth inside of each of these men- forced to grow up too fast. Their instant fascination toward power and uniform causes them to forget of their time of childhood- “But young? Youth? That was long ago. We are old folk”. These men have not yet reached even twenty years old and they have come to believe that they are “old folk”. While still sitting under new forms of supervision and accustoming themselves to new ways of living, these strongly built men are still living somewhat as children. The deeper underlying sense of fear and need for structure shines through, despite the sense assurance and control they are so desperate to project.