Trench Journal- Literary Analysis (Ch 10)

Paul and his friends are assigned to guard a village.

Paul and Kat find 2 pigs and other food in the village.

They decide to have a feast and 2 radio men join but the house their cooking in starts to get bombed.

Paul stays behind to make pancakes.

They find shelter and have their feast but later become sick because of all the fat.

The men trade some of their food for chocolate to alleviate their sickness.

They remain guarding the village for two weeks.

Then they are ordered back to the front.

The man are sent to evacuate a village and the French start firing on them and hit Albert in the knee. Paul is also hit.

They get medical help. Albert says he will kill himself if they amputate his leg and Paul won't let the orderlies chloroform Albert for fear that they will perform an amputation on him.

Paul bribes an orderly so he may stay with Albert.

Paul fakes a fever in order to go with Albert to a Catholic hospital.

Early one morning the nuns are chanting and this angers the soldiers who are trying to sleep. Paul throws a bottle and a soldier named Josef says he did it because he has a shooting license.

One of the patients is taken to the Dying Room and says he'll return.

Paul has an operation performed on him.

Albert has his leg amputated and tries to kill himself.

Peter returns from the Dying Room.

Albert gets an artificial limb and Paul returns home on sick leave and then returns to the front.

Paul feels worried about what Albert might do when he leaves him. Paul is happy to be returning to the front to his friends.

"Tjaden has become so fastidious that he only half smokes his cigars"(Remarque 238).

Fastidious-Excessively scrupulous or sensitive

"Above us swells the silken cover like a baldaquin"(Remarque 239).

Baldaquin-a portable canopy carried in religious processions

During the Great War Germany did not respect the rights of those countries who claimed neutrality. During World War One Germany would sink American ships in order to stop them from trading with the British. This cartoon shows the kaiser under the Jolly Roger on a U-boat looking at four ships marked as follows: American rights, national honor, freedom of the seas, and international law. This is to say that Germany did not respect any of these principles during the war. As a result of Germany's disrespect and brazen attacks on American ships America changed from its neutral position to a hostile one and declared war. Germany did not focus their attacks only on their enemy but also on those who did business with their enemy.

I learned that friendship can be hard when your friend is depressed and that you being there might be what they need to help them recover.