Resigned Violence

Themes in chapter Eight

In chapter eight of All quiet on the Wester Front, I feel that there is a constant overwhelming theme of resignation. After coming back from the front, beaten and scarred, Paul should be overjoyed in the previous chapter when he gets home but all he can feel is disgust knowing that everyone thinks highly of the war and that soldiers are heroes. In a strange way he’s almost relieved when he boards the train to get away from leave, but when he gets to the camp, he finds even worse situations. Not only is he stationed with demoralized, traumatized, shell-shocked soldiers, he’s also made to guard Russian POW’s. He doesn’t know what to do and starts questioning whether anyone should be in this brutal mess of a war. All he wants is to go back home, forget the war, and protect and provide for his family, it even when he does see his family, the give him the food that they need most. It’s a sad, slow chapter, but ultimately, a necessary one.