Literary Analysis Chapter 8

Chapter 8 Theme Exploration

By: Sam and Kimball

Everyone deserves kindness no matter who you are. In chapter 8 of the book All Quiet On The Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, kindness is a major theme, it is shown between two different groups of people, Russian prisoners and a German soldier. Paul shows sympathy and finds kindness within himself by giving a lot of his potato cakes and whorttle berries to the Russians, who were clearly living in bad conditions. Soon after arriving at the training camp, Paul notices a Russian prison camp next to the training camp. He sees Russian prisoners going through the Germans garbage cans looking for food to eat, and that is when Paul feels sorrow for these people who are is very bad conditions. Paul decides to show kindness to these people by giving them some food and cigarettes.

I take out my cigarettes, break each one in half and give them to the Russians. They bow to me and then light the cigarettes. Now red points glow in every face. They comfort me; it looks as though there were little windows in dark village cottages saying that behind them are rooms full of peace.

Showing kindness can go a long way. Paul did something very kind and sympathetic in this chapter and that was very important, although Paul did to even know the prisoners, and they did not speak the same language, he still showed kindness towards these people. This chapter shows lots of kindness with Paul giving the Russians the cigarettes, potato cakes, and whortleberries. Kindness is a really good thing to have and most people who have it, thrive in life.

Narrative Paragraph On The Power Of Friendship

 Friends Can Be Very Fun

F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Fight for you. Respect you. Include you. Encourage you. Need you. Deserve you. Stand by you.

        Friends are very fun to have fun with. It was with one of my friends, Sam, that we went to have fun with me at my grandparents lake house. When my mom told me that I could invite someone to the lake, I new immediately who I was going to invite. It was Sam. Sam and I are really good friends and I knew that he liked to be on the water and do all of the water activities. We went to the lake on a very nice weekend. It was warm and very sunny. At the lake where my grandparents live, the water gets very warm. There where a lot of people on the water. Some where skiing, tubing, wake boarding and some where just going on rides into town or having picnics on their boats. We went tubing a lot. When we got there, we immediately pit the ski boat into the water. It took a while but it was worth it. Sam and I drove it to the dock and tied it up so that it wouldn’t float away. We went tubing a lot. It was so much fun. One time when we went tubing, my dad was driving really fast and he turned fast and we went flying. I have a little rash from the tube but otherwise, I was fine. We also went skiing. I went first and then Sam was going to go but he didn’t want to. At the end of the day my dad had convinced him so he went. The day was a lot of fun but having a friend being there made it better. I really liked hanging out with Sam because he is really fun. Anywhere we going whether its a trampoline park or just the backyard, he makes it awesome. Hanging out with friends is really awesome. It releases dopamine in your brain and you get high. Overall, I love hanging out with my friends and I do it whenever I can.

Chapter 7 Socratic

Tomorrow in class, I think that we should only focus of one idea. I think that we should focus on how Paul re-entered the "real world." I think that we should talk about this because it is most of the chapter. I would like to discuss how he had a hard time and even forgot to salute and major in passing and that is why he changed into civillian clothes to act normal and not be looked at weirdly. That is why I think that we should disuss Paul in the socratic seminar in class.

Kimball Khetani

Fitz English 8

April 12, 2019

Chapter Six Literary Reflection Paragraph

There Are Many Horrors Of War

War is the ultimate reality-based horror show

- David Hackworth

             There are many horrors of war but some can be petrifying. Reading chapter six really showed me the horrors of modern war. I was very anxious when reading the very descriptive chapter. While reading this chapter I have learned what the soldiers have to go through. Killing rats just to get food, this shows what they have to do to survive the horrible war. When I started reading chapter six, Fitz told us that there was going to be a lot of battle senes and it was going to be the most gruesome chapter. When I heard that, I was kinda feeling like he was just saying that to scare us, but when we got into the chapter, I realized that he wasn’t lying. The chapter was so gruesome and very descriptive. It really showed how bad the soldiers got wounded from the worn out German artillery. The chapter really taught me a lot about war. It gave me some perspective on how war was really like back then. I thought war was just like people killing each other and fighting but reading this chapter showed me that it is really horrible. The author really described how they had to take care of each other and he showed how horribly they died. Reading this chapter was totally worth it. I am so happy that I read this because I learned a lot about war and the horrors of it. I would recommend this book to anyone and make sure that they pay attention to this chapter.

Survival

To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering 

- Friedrich Nietzsche

        Survival is key in war. In the book, All Quiet On The Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque and Arthur Wesley Wheen, in chapter four they are trying to survive the bombs and the loud cries of the horses. The comrades have to work together to help each and survive the gas, bomb shards and loud cries of the horses. They help each other out giving medical aid and giving each other gas masks. During the war scenes, they have to help each other. A bomb shard hits somebody in the head but since the shard came from such a long way away, the shard didn’t go through the helmet. Then the Italian bombs started to come. They come in and when they get close to then ground the deploy a parachute and then they explode on impact. There was also gas bombs. Everyone had to put on there gas masks. They went into the bomb shelter to wait it out and when they heard it stop, they went out. One person took of his mask and he seemed to be okay. Then everyone started to take it off also. “The moment that the first shells whistle over and the air is rent with the explosions there is suddenly in our veins, in our hands, in our eyes a tense waiting, a watching, a heightening alertness, a strange sharpening of the senses. The body with one bound is in full readiness.” All Quiet on The Western Front Chapter 4. Everyone that was in the field had to work so hard to survive. They were not attacking, just focusing on helping themselves and others. They had to pull shards out of there skin and even do it to others. Some would lend each other their belt to not let them bleed out anymore. They all have to survive together as comrades and fight threw the pain of losing friends and losing limbs.

Metacognition on Chapter Three

I think that we should talk more about the leadership in the group. I was kind of confused. From what I understand, Kat is a normal soldier but has been in the field for a long time and is really smart in the field. but it is kin of confusing because everyone eeps talking about how smart Kropp is. Do they mean that Kat is smart and the field and stuff and Kropp is just smart in like science and math and that stuff? I was also wonder about the quote "Give 'em all the same grub and all the same pay And the war woul be over and done in a day." I think we should talk more about that. Because, there is the thought that if everyone is equal and they have the same things then maybe everyone would be happy. But there is another idea that if the people who got higher pays might be angry because they like feeling in charge and maybe if they don't get paid more and they don't get a nicer meal than they won't feel special. And when he says that if you give a man something that is better than he is used to, he will snap at it and do whatever he can to get it. Its like I said earlier, men will do anything for power. Those are just some ideas on what I think we should talk about tommorow.