Do we as readers need to know exactly how Paul died? Explain
What was Remarque's purpose of writing this book, and do you feel he accomplished it?
*** Start thinking about what Paul would say should he have lived.****
Today in Advanced Comp:
Sign off on ch 10-11 notes.
Quiz on ch 10-11
Discussion on ironic elements of novel
Retest of anticipation war survey.
HWK: None
26 comments:
I totally agree that this was the best way to end this novel. Yes, it is kinda a cliffhanger but still this book is totally sad and I believe that telling the readers what happened to Paul would just add to the gloom of the book over-all. I think Remarque's purpose for writing this book is to tell the people that war isn't all that great and people don't need to be putting their lives in jeopardy for what the government started, I also think Remarque accomplished getting that purpose out for his readers.
We as readers do not need to know how Paul died. If we knew the book would not have the same meaning.Like paul said it doesn't matter how he died he is dead all the same. -Whitney
Hmm..
Well, we do not exactily know how paul died, but do people know how most of the people in te war died?
I think it was a pretty good way to end the novel. It wasn't a shocker to the readers. It let us know that He died, but saved the "pain" for us as a whole.
I htink that he may have wanted to educate people on what the war was about. To inform people like my sister that life can get worce, and the food was wayyy worce for these people. It was a peice of history, for us to look into.
ehh well..
22211
But don't we have the right to KNOW the truth?
in a way.. some people think that. But as the discusions in class, it kinda spairs the sorry, and pain, for the readers.
22211
So the sole purpose of the book was to let people know that life can get worse, and inform them about the war? Don't the history books do that?
Personaly i always want to know more details, and i do want to know how Paul died, and what happened to his mom and sister. Even if these details arn't important to the structure of the novel it still leavs the reader irritated at the fact of not knowing what entirely happened. I would also like to know what happened to all the other guys that were at the hospital. Also there is absolutly nothing wrong with being flat footed >_<
It was a pretty good ending. I really don't think that it would have had the same meaning if it had happened any other way.
We don't need to know how he died. He will still be dead even if we get the whole story, or not. His story is over.
When I read that Kat had died while Paul carried him to the medic, I stopped, found my still swearing jaw on the floor and then reread the last few paragraphs to see if I had missed anything.
I hadn't.
Talk about injustice, irony, and just 'WTF' moments! Paul is struggling to save Kat, and he dies anyway.
Erg.
Agree, I was one of the people who didn't see the end of the novel on the back of the page, so I only read to the page before it. And it just didn't feel right to end with him alive like that
We don't need the details. We know that Paul was ready to go and that's all we need to know.
To tell people the true side of war. What it is really like. And yes, I think he acompished it.
-Rachel P.
Don't we already "know" what war is like because we can watch TV? How is this book any different?
True true....but back then they were experiencing new weaponry and tactics which kind of made them fumble a bit. Nowadays people know what they're getting into and they know what to do as well. It isn't exposing the true side of any war but the horrors of WW1. Or at least that's what I think
Are you sure they know what they are getting into. If we went into another large war today you think that we would know the tactics that our enemys use. No we would not. They could fight different than the world has ever seen before. Who knows? You have a point that we would be a little better prepared but we would not know exacly what is coming. There could be weapons that we would never even think of even using. So what do you think the true sides of WW1 are?
T.V gives the viewer the closest 'images' we can get without actually been there filming it, and also is cencored do to 'grafic violence.' Where as in the book there is no limits to the readers imagination and isn't held strictly to the images given to us by t.v.
I belive for books that are non-fiction or historical non-fiction, are nothing to be compared with t.v.
From my point of view t.v. is just too inacurate for at least this subject.
When we watch T.V. and hear about the war, all we hear is a roadside bombing killed xxx amount of people and xxx American troops died today! Don't even think that is all that happened! A while back we talked about censorship, and how the news is telling us only what they think we should hear. It's still the same today, just telling us about deaths and attacks. All Quiet on the Western Front tells us what its like behind the scenes and how they are dealing with the pain of war. The details we NEVER would of thought about, was provided in this book for us. Just my opinion,
AJ
Sixth Period
I do agree on how the book ended. I think Paul dieing was a good thing. i mean we know he was going to eventually die, im just glad they told us he did, even if they didnt exactly tell us how. But any way i kinda like when a novel ends with the main characters death. to me it shows full-fillment of everything he accomplashed in the novel. Plus after everything Paul wen through, im sure dieing was a relief so now he can rest in peace.
I think its a good thing to know how characters die, but if the author thought it wasn't important for us to know, i believe he would have told us. I personal like to know how they die, that is if it effects the story, but Pauls death was a some wat important part to the story, so us knowing was important, but the cause of his death i done think was absolutly needed.
I believe his main purpose was to get a point accross that war is more than just killing ur enemy and winning, but to show the bonds u can make with ur other soldiers and to show that even in war you can relay on someone u just met, yet u trust with your life.
-Charlie R.-6th Period- =D
Ya we can just watch tv and say we know what war is. But when you read, the content in wich ur reading plays in ur head like a movie and i believe you recieve a beeter take on war from reading because, like always, books are more discriptive and give u a better picture in ur head of what war is really like. No matter hoe gruesome it may be ur mind still autimaticly pictures it because of its curiosity. So i would say, ya you could go watch some old movie with old dudes shooting one another up, but if u want a real take on it i believe you should read a book. =] P.S. sorry bout all the misspels. I s u c k at spelling. as you can c. =D
This is by far the ONLY way to end the novel. We don't need to know exactly how Paul died, all we need to know is THAT he died. If we knew exactly how he died, it would only add to the gloom of the book, and I really don't think that Remarque wanted that. I think that the whole point of his writing this novel is to expose the horrors of war, and I know for a fact that he exposed that! (Just look at chapter 6!)
Anyways, good ending, and in my opinion, one of the best chapters of the book!
Sorry, just read the rest of the posts. I DO believe that there is a significant amount of censorship in the media today. Like A.J. said, they focus on the number of deaths, not how they happened or why. All we as Americans know, (and apparently all we care about, considering it's all we ever hear about), is the death count. This book was the perfect way to "let the cat out of the bag." In a way, we really have no idea what our troops are going through overseas, because our government doesn't think that we can handle it. They don't believe that we can handle knowing what they know, and I think that's just wrong!
So basically, the only thing we can get from book that we can't get from T.V. is how violent war is?
Not at all, it shows us what they do when they are not fighting. You get close to others during war, and when you loose them, it feels like you're there fighting for nothing. My neighbor's son joined the army a year ago, and he knew it wouldn't be easy. I asked his parents what he has thought of it back there so far, and they said its NOT at all like what you see on T.V. Now that is coming from a Amry Sargent himself. So ya, by reading historical war books we CAN have a new idea of what war is about.
AJ
Sixth Period
oh emm gee Ms. Piña I think Philip wants to challenge your doggy with his you better give him an F xD. Anyways its amazing how we can be talking about one subject and switch to another. Of course the government is going to censor what out there they think we're not ready to know the truth. Sure they show somethings on T.V. but chances are the truth won't get out until after the war. The book does show what war can be like but how many years was it after the war that the author wrote the book?
Well, yes, one of the major things we learn about by reading this book IS about the horrors of violence, but we also learn about the people underneath the uniform. We learn about the horrible living conditions, we learn about the people that are fighting, and we learn their feelings about war. I knew that there was quite a few soldiers that were against the war, but this book really makes me think about why. So, yes, it does tell us about the horrors of war, but it also does so much more than that!
Philip From 1st Period
P.S. My dog IS really cool!
I am pretty sure that Remarque's purpose of writing this book was so that people could understand how war was. How it is still.
Before I read this book, I knew that war was terrible, but some aspects of this book show both sides of the fence in war. On one hand, you have times were you tend to act worry free, but through most of a war, you are in an inescapable fear that takes hold of you until you die, or are released from this war.
How you survive is by coping with this fear. Also, I believe he wanted to show people that war is not good in the slightest. That you could lose yourself in the war.
I have to say this book is a very good book, and now I understand why such a sad (for lack of a better word) book is in the curriculum.
I like eggs and I like this book.
But, it was gruesome..
There were way better ways I think that he could have ended the book, but how it ended was fine.
The war he describes isn't as terrible as the war we are in so.... i would hate for him to see and or participate in the wars that we have now.
Also what we see on the television and what we read are two completely different things. They can't sensor or books like they can sensor t.v. programs.
I've seen some videos about what car bombs actually look like when they are detonated and people shooting each other. So we don't know what war is like just by watching some show like the news or 60 minutes. What you have to do is watch the videos they won't show you on t.v. read the articles they won't put in newspapers thats where you will find the horrors of war.
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