1. Research war machinery, using some or all of the following: the cluster bomb, flamethrower, machine gun, gas mask, tank, observation balloon, anti-aircraft gun, daisy cutter, star-luster bomb, and grenade. Explain how these devices altered ancient and medieval concepts of the warrior and hero. 2. Compare Paul’s response to impending […]
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1. Remarque’s novel presents nature in many moods and for many purposes. Discuss Remarque’s use of nature throughout the novel, using examples when possible. 2. This World War I novel is a story of powerful bonding among men. Using examples from the book, explain how Remarque develops his idea of […]
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anti-aircraft shells explosive projectiles fired at enemy aircraft. A1 a person who is fit for military service. Lesser degrees of fitness rate C3 or B3, for example. Aunt Sally name of a figure of a woman’s head at which balls are thrown, as in a sideshow; a person or idea […]
Read more Study Help Full GlossaryCritical Essays A Note on World War I and Its Technology
Called the “Great War” for its complex involvement of nations extending from northern Europe to northern Africa, western Asia, and the United States, World War I dates officially to Gavrilo Princip’s shooting of Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, as they crossed the River Miljachka in Sarajevo, Bosnia, […]
Read more Critical Essays A Note on World War I and Its TechnologyCritical Essays Rhetorical Devices
Remarque demonstrates a mastery of language, which he manipulates to suit rapid shifts of tone, characterization, and theme, depending on his varying needs for graphic, blunt description, lyricism, dialogue, or lament. Passages illustrating these rhetorical devices are listed in the following sections. Humor “Then [the sergeant major] steams off with […]
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All Quiet demonstrates a controlled use of symbols, which guide the reader’s thinking toward significant themes of loss and longing. Most prominent are the soft airman’s boots, which pass from man to man after each wearer succumbs to a violent death. Worn by Kemmerich before his injury, they were undoubtedly […]
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Remarque, telling his story for the most part in first-person until he briefly adopts third-person following Paul’s death, enables the reader to identify with a single eyewitness account, which evolves from his own experiences on the western front. Immature and at times bewildered, Paul, still in his teens, enters the […]
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The Lost Generation In the autumn of 1918, Paul Baumer, a 20-year-old German soldier, contemplates his future: “Let the months and years come, they can take nothing from me, they can take nothing anymore. I am so alone and so without hope that I can confront them without fear” (Chapter […]
Read more Critical Essays Major ThemesErich Maria Remarque Biography
Introduction To the biographer and student of literature, Erich Maria Remarque, who has been called the “recording angel of the Great War,” was an enigma, a man rife with contradictions and contrasts. He admired stylish women, Impressionist art, an antique Lancia convertible and a racy Bugatti, and Chinese art from […]
Read more Erich Maria Remarque BiographyCharacter Analysis Gerard Duval
By a chance landing into the watery foxhole that Paul inhabits, Gerard Duval falls victim to Paul’s small dagger. The Frenchman, with his pointed beard and gurgling, dying breath, rivets Paul’s attention, pulling him on “a terrible journey of three yards, a long, a terrible journey” until Paul arrives at […]
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