Dehumanization in All Quiet on the Western Front Essay

Winston Churchill always said, You ask what is our aim? I nates dish up in one word It is supremacy, victory at every last(predicate) costs, victory in spite of totally terror, victory, no matter how long and unsaid the world may be for without victory, there is no survival. In Erich female horse Remarques All Quiet on the Western Front, victory is seen as the single option. The soldiers in the novel do whatever it takes like performing before counting or ignoring any possible consequences in say to emerge victorious. capital of Minnesota and his comrades ar exposed constantly to violence, jumpstarting a dehumanizing swear out that forces them to rely on animal instinct.This essential instinct is the only intimacy that keeps them alive during state of war, exactly it also changes them internally leaving them with a divers(prenominal) mindset. To survive the war, soldiers bring to sacrifice any logical instinct or emotion and fight on animal instinct. They start ou t level-minded, but when they r individually the preliminary all that changes, as Paul believes when he says, We marching up, moody or good tempered soldiers we reach the zone where the front begins and become on instinct human animals (56). This animal instinct is necessary for their survival.When they are put in a situation concerning warfare, their mind adapts to the environs and begins to conceive of of the enemy as targets, rather than human beings. It is simply a defensive mechanic that allows them to save themselves without the sense of smelling of guilt. Pauls intuitive feeling is that, We have become wild beasts. We do not fight, we defend ourselves against decompositionNo longer do we lie helpless, waiting on the scaffold, we tolerate destroy and obliterate, to save ourselves to save ourselves and be revenged (113). They are so indifferent with fighting and staying alive, that their emotions tout ensemble disappear.This is proved by Pauls thoughts If your kno wledge father came over with them you would not hesitate to fling a break at him (114). Ultimately, if they did not dehumanize themselves they would not be able to kill anyone over the enemy line. A good example of this is when Paul is rooted(p) after looking into the enemys eyes during the commencement bombardment, but he quickly gets over this to move on and save himself. T. S. Matthews in his article Bad News states, They have had to become soldiers, and they are nil else.They believe in the present moment it is not enough, but it is all they can be sure of (2). Matthews goes on to say, But what keeps them going in mans machine-made hell is the bodily presence of the friends or so them (2). On the contrary, dehumanization is the key to survival. Throughout the novel, Paul loses close friends of his and each season he does he finds the strength to keep on fighting. He may not always emergency to, but he keeps go forward in his dehumanized state towards the end. Dehumaniza tion not only affects the soldier physically but internally as well, both on and off the front.Being affected internally by dehumanization representation that these soldiers are stripped of their emotions, have a changed their point of view on war, or are given a different mindset. When Paul and others go to visit Kemmerich, a former classmate whose leg was recently amputated, they can tell he is on the brink of death. Instead of being concerned, Pauls classmate Muller is insensitive and is only concerned most his boots. Muller has been so dehumanized that all he can read himself to think about is Kemmerichs boots, and receiving them after his death.Later in the novel, cat points out a sniper to Paul, who is killing off soldiers. As Kat mentions, this sniper feels no remorse or guilt about it his actions. He has been so dehumanized that he has come to enjoy killing others. Dehumanization causes the soldiers to think other than when it comes to death. They see so many people dead all the time that they begin to care less and less. Paul thinks, When a man has seen so many dead he cannot understand any longer why there should be so much anguish over a single individual (181). Internally, the soldiers are losing many things close to them because of being on the front.These things are written by Matthews, Love they have not kn hold, patriotism and all the other abstract virtues and vices have vanished away in their first drum-fire (2). Due to being on the front, the soldiers find difficulty in more or less of the simplest things in life and losing other things they have already been taught. About this Matthews comments, These youngsters whom the warfare is swiftly making unfit for civilian life (though many of them testament not have to make the change) have cast aside, of necessity, all that they have been taught (2).This dehumanization changes the soldiers, leaving with them with the consequences and wondering if the life of an animal is really expenditure living. When Paul returns shoes base on leave, he is struck with the feeling of homelessness. He can take no comfort there, and begins to realize that this is not because his home changed, but himself instead. When Paul tries on ordinary civilian clothes, he feels awkward and doesnt recognize himself. He also finds it hard to get along with people who constantly want to know about the war, like his own father. Even though Paul is near his family and acquaintances, he still feels isolated.He is so accustomed to being on the front with his comrades that he begins to think of that as the closest thing to home. Even after the war, the soldiers would return home feeling homeless and disconnected from society. John Wilson, the author of Combat and Comradeship, says, A contrary outcome, the residual stress perspective (Figley, 1978) suggests that the psychosocial aftermath of war continues or even intensifies through the post war years (136). The men on the front are only concerned wit h life and death. When their life is at risk, their thought process changes from when they were safe.Their thoughts never remain the same, and the changes of their thoughts affect how they live their life. This is proven when Paul says, Our thoughts are clay, they are molded with the changes of the days when we are resting they are good under fire, they are dead. Fields of craters within and without (271). Because of all the war and violence that Paul and his comrades have suffered through, they have gone through a dehumanizing process. This process does in fact save them from war, but changes them into a completely different person.Living life dehumanized, in the end, is not worth it. They feel disconnected from home, lose all emotions and some even begin to think of death as the only option. By the end of the novel, Paul simply describes the life of a dehumanized soldier as, Shells, gas clouds, and flotillas of tanks shattering, corroding, death. Dysentery, influenza, typhus sca lding, choking, death. Trenches, hospitals, the common grave there are no other possibilities (283). Taking all these things into consideration, it is perfectly understandable why a soldier would not want this kind of life.