reallyclean 's Public Library

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- This was a terrific experience: I learned so many new things, new, useful things during this project. Although there were times where I was utterly depressed (because I found out that I wasn't a good writer after all, looking at other students' writing), I think I now have a little idea of how to persuade and please others wit hmy writing. I know I still have a long way to go, but my writing experience is off to a good start!

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Interesting project J

What is truly interesting in this scene is that despite the danger that lies ahead, they are “read[ing] letters [sent by their families] and newspapers and smok[ing]” (9). They even “take off [their] caps and lay them down” (9), instead of panicking about the fact that they may die.

This quote, I believe, portrays a rather tragical irony, as it implies the fact that the soldiers are “read[ing] letters and smok[ing]” (9) and letting “the wind [play] with [their] hair” (9) to not think about their horrible situation at the front.

What is your vision of war? A massive bloodshed, dead corpses lying everywhere, smokes covering the view of the other side. Simply, not an enjoyable vision. But when Paul and his units started to think outside the box, they realized what their enviornment had truly contained. Hidden behind acts of violence and murders, Paul realized beauty. Beaty of “…bumble-bees droning…”(9), “…the grasses sway[ing] their tall spears [and] the white butterflies flutter[ing] around…on the soft watn wind…”(9). Even though, they were in a cruel battle, this quote has let us realize what nature can provide us, and how we cannot appreciate it. Instead, nations decide to ruin that beauty. They send aircrafts, which makes the sky fade its true beauty. They set bombs, which disturbs the living creatures in their busy work.

However, this quote had showed how Paul and his units decided to ignore all those wars tragedy for awhile. When aircraft passed by, they don’t visioned it as a threat, but realized how “…[clouds] rise in a sheaf as they follow[ed] after an airman.”(9) When bomb was set at the front, they didn’t panic, but only interpreted it as “…muffled rumble… [like a] very distant thunder”(9). They were able to forget about everything they had in front of them, and just enjoy the nature’s beauty.

“The white butterflies flutter around and float on the soft warm wind of the late summer” (9).

I pictured the white butterflies fluttering around in a warm summer afternoon with cool breeze. In this picture, grass sways in a peaceful flowery meadow and bumble-bees quietly buzz around. This scene is a direct opposite from a bloody war where everyone suffers in dramatic pains. By looking at the imagery of white butterflies, silence, peace, light wings, I think the narrator is trying to look for some kind of hope out of his absurd life.

“Over us is the blue sky. On the horizon float the . . . observation-balloons [and] shells. Around us stretches the flowery meadow”

Sky, horizon, and meadow are all open nature that we could have some break and rest. They don’t have an end. The narrator wants to be free from the miserable war and find his own way in his young life.

The narrator goes back to the primitive nature and feels meaning there. Mankind had broken the silence and destroyed the peace and started to defame each other. When the life seems hopeless and miserable, people start to notice little details of beauty from their everyday lives. The narrator, serving in a military at a young age, goes through a harsh warfare in his youth. His life is not guaranteed and the surroundings are merciless. Even in these brutal environments, he recognizes the peace in little things he sees in the original nature.

This quote is very strong because it explains how the narrator is feeling in his inner most soul. He wants to find meaning hope in his life and seek for the freedom by feeling the primitive nature. His instinct wants to find his meaning of life in and find his identity. This quote is also very touching while artistically show how the character is psychologically feeling.

“Over us [,the soldiers] is the blue sky. On the horizon float[ed] the bright yellow, sunlit observation-balloons, and the many little white clouds of the anti-aircraft shells. Often they r[o]se in a sheaf as they follow[ed] after an airman. We hear[d] the muffled rumble of the front only as very distant thunder, bumble-bees [were] droning by quite drown it. Around us stretche[d] the flowery meadow. The grasses sway[ed] their tall spears; thw white butterflies flutter around and float on the soft watn wind of the late summer. We read letters and newspapers and smoke. We take off our caps and lay[ed] them down besides us. The wind play[ed] with our hair; it play[ed] with our words and thoughts. The three boxes st[ood] in the midst of the glowing, red field-poppies “(9).

I think that this phrase was preferable because the wordings were amazing, and above that, it showed the calmness in the war. The blue sky, isn’t that just pleasing to “look” at? If I were to be in that situation, I would have loved it. The scene would make my jaws stuck and opened.

There is one thing that disturbs me a little. I am not perfectly sure, but I think poppies are flowers that feeds on blood. If I am right, the ending of the scene is pretty scary. The blood feeding flower on the battlefield. Poppies are also red, the color of ever leaking blood.

So I personally found this quote pretty ambigous. It had romantic momments and also bloody momments (Ithink). So I had two thoughts on it.

1. On page 108, Paul talks about their need for for food and how it does not satisfy them. He shows this by “pull[ing] in [their] belts tighter and chew every mouthful three times as long. Still the food does not last out; we are damnably hungry. I take out a scrap of bread, eat the white and put the crust back in my knapsack; from time to time I nibble at it” (108).

2. This passage to me is very interesting. It’s different than the world we live in today. Today, we value things such as money and jewelry when if you you look at it, it’s practically useless. In war, soldiers behave like real people, like a Houyhnhnm. They treasure things such as food and cigarettes. I think the cigarettes resemble things such as interactive things.

After:

“What use is it to him now that he was such as good mathematician at school (284)”

This quote was written when one of Paul’s comrade, Leer, falls. Leer’s death scene is full of emotion, and this sentence is the last of the paragraph. This sentence alone proves a lot of war, that warfare can take anything a man possesses, by an ungrateful death.

Similar pictures can be formed when reading such as:

“I open my eyes–my fingers grasp a sleeve, an arm. A wounded man? I yell to him–no answer–a dead man. My hand gropes farther, splinters of wood–now I remember again that we are lying in the graveyard.” (pg.67 1st full paragraph)

This was another passage that I had a very strong impression of. The characters were in the graveyard, and suddenly “shelling” occurs and bombs are exploding everywhere, gas is spread, the graveyard is a huge mess. The narrator, Paul, deals with helping his fellows out while trying to save his own life. Further along in the next paragraphs, the struggle through the gas is explained so detailed, yet so amazingly real. When he “open[ed] [his] eyes–[his] fingers grasp a sleeve, an arm” I was shocked. Instead of just explaining by saying ‘I opened my eyes and caught a dead man’s arm’, the author chose to write it like a list of things happening–describing each detail, one by one.