How does himmelstoss behave in the trench

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That the men will be moved to Russia to continue fighting. That a surplus of food will soon be arriving for the troops. That the Kaiser has died. That the war might soon be over. How does Detering react to the sight of the cherry tree? He is happy because cherries are his favorite fruit. He misses home so badly that he deserts the army. He chops it down for firewood. He picks a few cherry blossoms for one of the French girls. How have Paul's feelings for his comrades changed once he is no longer on leave?

He no longer likes being around them because he misses his family. His bond with the men has grown even stronger. He only wants to spend time alone now.

What has happened to Kantorek? He died of a heart attack. He was forced is enlist and is serving under one of his former students. He got married and moved away. Paul, weighed down by combat, mentions the poplar trees, a strangely graceful, nonthreatening antithesis to the worn-out guns, which are so inaccurate that they endanger German troops.

The repugnant motif of rat-hunting replicates the human image of men living in foxholes and scrabbling for food. The ignoble death of rats trapped in the gleam of a flashlight calls to mind the airman who is trapped by searchlights and gunned down. Just as Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest predicts, the rats that survive are the most aggressive — bloodthirsty enough to devour a couple of cats and a dog.

Seemingly, even warfare has no limits, as demonstrated by the savage Allied response to saw-edged bayonets, with which they mutilate German soldiers, strangling them with sawdust. The men, disenchanted with dependence on bayonets, rely on multipurpose spades, which can cleave "as far down as the chest.

Only twenty years old, he is already a grim mercenary capable of killing all adversaries, even if his "own father came over with them. The counterpoint of Paul's stint of guard duty heightens the sense of loss as he tries to summon former feelings of love, innocence, and optimism, but cannot fully override the distant sound of artillery fire that triggers his siege mentality. His wistful, elegiac mood persists, forcing him to accept the fact that his generation is burned out, indifferent, emotionally stifled.

He recognizes that he can go on existing, but that he will never feel fully alive again. Regretting the loss of his former self, he concludes, "I believe we are lost. Paul's inability to warm his hands parallels the deaths of his comrades and foreshadows his own coming death. He decries the pitiless landscape, so pockmarked by craters that it resembles the moon, a cold heavenly body. Unable to solace his flagging spirits, he looks forward to a mug of barley soup, but the meal fails to brighten his mood.

Even with blue skies and gentle breezes overhead, the earthly scene of rotting, bloated corpses sickens the men, who are incapable of interring so many dead comrades.

Against this hellish backdrop flutter larks and two yellow and red butterflies, symbols of fragile beauty, which settle on the "teeth of a skull. Ironically, Paul, himself childlike under the tutelage of Kat, loses patience with ignorant recruits, whose presence indicates that German draft boards lack adult males to restock the fighting force. When recruits endanger themselves, Paul, playing the role of disapproving father, wants to spank them and "lead them away from here where they have no business to be.

Haie's injury, which bares a quivering lung, denies Paul the opportunity to bandage and rescue his friend. Tjaden states that he would concentrate on getting revenge on Himmelstoss. Detering says that he would return to his farm. Himmelstoss approaches the men, who rudely ignore him. He orders Tjaden to stand, but Tjaden moons him in response.

Tjaden rushes off to hide before Himmelstoss returns with the authorities. They calculate that there are only twelve men left out of the twenty from their class who joined the army.

Seven are dead, four are wounded, and one went insane. They mockingly recite questions that Kantorek shot at them in school. Paul cannot imagine what he will do after the war. Kropp concludes that the war has destroyed everything for them.

They are not impetuous youths anymore but men perpetually on the run. We show the m how to take cover from aircraft,how to simulate a dead man when on e is overrun inan attack, how to time hand-grenades so that the yexplode before hitting the ground; we teach the m tofling the mselves into holes as quick as lightningbefore the shells with instantaneous fuses; we show the m how to clean up a trench with a handful ofbombs; we explain the difference between the fuselengthof the enemy bombs and our own; we put the m wise to the sound of gas shells;—show the mall the tricks that can save the m from death.

They listen, the y are docile—but when it beginsagain, in the ir excitement the y do everything wr on g. Haie Westhus drags off with a great wound inhis back through which the lung pulses at everybreath. We see men living with the ir skulls blown open;we see soldiers run with the ir two feet cut off The sun goes down, night comes, the shells whine,life is at an end.

Still the little piece of c on vulsed earth in whichwe lie is held. We have yielded no more than a fewhundred yards of it as a prize to the enemy. But on every yard the re lies a dead man.

Questi on s to Think About1. How does Himmelstoss behave in the trench? What makes him move out? How does the arrival of new recruits makeexperienced soldiers like Baumer the narrator feel?

Does he really believe in it? Humanities Link What details in this passageshow the horrors of trench warfare? No tags were found Short-link Link Embed.