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.
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