Survival
04/03/2019
Chapter four paragraph
“To live is to suffer, to sirvive is to find some meaning in the suffering.”
-Friedrich Nietzsche
Writing this piece was really easy considering me and Andrew work pretty well together. We both did an even amount of work and if we were to right one of these again later in the year I would probably work with Andrew again. Even when we got a little bit unfocused during class we pulled it back together and started writing again. Overall I think this process went really well. Man's greatest instinct is survival. In chapter four of All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, all the soldiers face many challenges, but the most difficult of them all is survival. Surviving the trenches in near impossible but for Paul, Kantorek, Kat, Tjaden and Müller they manage to find their way through with the help of each other, survival and a little bit of luck. Everyone is near the front line placing barbed wire. They were just about finished when Kat’ s instinct to survive kicked in. He got a bad feeling that was telling him that there was going to be a bombardment because the English usually attack at 10pm but they had attacked at 9pm. Kat shared this with everyone right before the bombardments and they all ran back towards the barracks.
“At the sound of the first droning of the shells we rush back, in one part of our being, a thousand years. By the animal instinct that is awakened in us we are led and protected. It is not conscious; it is far quicker, much more sure, less fallible, then conscious. One cannot explain it...it is this other, this second sight in us, that has...saved us, without our knowing how.”
Kat’s sixth sense and his will for survival help him and the rest of the soldiers survive in all types of situations. It is nearly impossible to survive the trenches and because everyone’s common goal is survival. Survival guides the lifestyle in day to day life in the trenches, no matter who you are or who you were the only thing that matters to you is survival. Everyone in the trenches has the same question, will I survive? Survival is what drives everyone to get through any type of situation. The feeling of wanting to survive is man's greatest instinct and without it we wouldn’t be here today.
Metacognition
Writing this piece was really easy considering me and Andrew work pretty well together. We both did an even amount of work and if we were to right one of these again later in the year I would probably work with Andrew again. Even when we got a little bit unfocused during class we pulled it back together and started writing again. Overall I think this process went really well.