As part of my further reading, I have begun to read Erich Maria Remarque's All quiet on the Western front. First published in 1928 it was , like many WW1 texts, written by a war veteran. But unlike the novels that we have begun in class this text is written for the German perspective. For many who know very little about the war it may seem as if this would make a large difference. But from the first chapter of the book its clear that it makes no difference as you are immersed in an image that could originate from any of the many nations of the war.

The text is obviously a novel, written as a first person narrative by the protagonist Paul Baumer. It focuses on his and his group of friends experience as they go through the war. What is immediately obvious is the way that all the characters treat death in such a blase way. The cook is only 'staggered' because hes cooked for double the number of people that are still alive. This is not surprising. With so many people getting killed soldiers would appear immune to the horrors they experienced. This doesn't mean that it didn't affect them; far from it. But to survive something as dreadful as WW1 without losing your sanity (as many people did- shell shock) you would have to exist in some sort of dream state. The soldiers take full advantage of the extra quantity of food, happily taking the rations of those 'pushing up daisies'. Language like that gives it a surreal feel. The way war changes people is, in my view, perfectly surmised in the first chapter. Remarque, through Paul, describes the way vocabulary changes due to what you go through and how 'it is impossible to express oneself in any other way so clearly' without revealing how bad the war was. It wasn't until the 1960's (at least in Britain) that the Blackadder view of the war became a popular view on how the war was conducted. Both my Great Grandfathers were in the war but they never spoke about the experiences their children . I know that one was wounded seven times and I have a letter detailing a brief engagement where men were killed. But, as in the book, its done in a casual way. Its was not uncommon for people to not want to talk about the war for reasons that we all know. 

With the family history out the way, the first chapter of the book describes the reason the 'boys' joined up. Following the brilliant description of the school teacher, Remarque, in a fashion that was mirrored across Europe, explains why young men joined up in the early years. 'Under his shepherding' the whole of his class joined up because they 'had to fall into line'. People 'loved their country' but that's only part of the reason they would join up. The threat of being 'ostracized' by the ones that you love would force even the strongest of willed people to join. If a similar situation existed today, sadly,it would not surprise me if the same thing happened.

I'm not sure if this is the kind of work you asking for Miss Prosser, so I just wrote whatever.