All Quiet On The Western Front Final Metacognition
05/17/2019
Give A Damn And Figure It Out
“What a cruel thing war is... to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors.”
Robert E. Lee
From the very beginning, I really enjoyed reading the book, All Quiet on the Western Front. While some early parts of the book seemed slow, with time the book began to click with me, and I developed a genuine liking for it. With the shift in my feelings about the book, I continued to read and became a more engaged student overall. This clearly helped my understanding of the novel and my work ethic in doing the countless writing assignments. As we slowly read the chapters, I developed reading habits for the book which helped me in many ways. One of them was reading the professor’s chapter summary beforehand, highlighting the complex themes and the obscure vocabulary, and marking great passages of writing which kept me engaged throughout the process. Sometimes during the reading I would listen to music to help me concentrate; however, I found it would distract me more than my peers (who I was trying to tune out so I could get focused). As I continued throughout the book, my self-esteem grew in my writing about the literature, and this pushed me to do more. I saw my work and was genuinely proud of what was being unveiled before my eyes. The book was tremendously well written, and I believe it is one of the best books I’ve ever read. Chapter after chapter, I was excited with the constant divine writing, and the immense detail that captured the scene of the western front. Lines like “A man cannot realize that above such shattered bodies there are still human faces in which life goes its round” all contributed to my love for the book..
As I began to surround myself with the writing and dig more deeply and thoughtfully, I noticed a shift in my thoughts towards and about certain aspects of the book. After Chapter 6 and beyond, I noticed a shift in my thoughts of the war. In the early chapters I knew about the horrible aspects of war and all that was lost with it, but in the later chapters I really enhanced my learning as I dug deeper, had discussions with peers. After finishing a chapter, I took a moment to reflect on what happened — something my prior self would never do (I would carelessly move onto the next assignment). This process helped my thoughts evolve for the better; Now I understand know the horrors and sacrifice in war and how, sadly, it was worth nothing.
The book was spectacular and I would definitely recommend, while I may have been complaining to Fitz in the beginning of the book, I will now encourage others to spend the time, give a damn, and figure it out. I am grateful to Fitz for having me read this classic piece of literature.