All Quiet on the Western Front Symbolism, Imagery Allegory

All Quiet on the Western Front Symbolism, Imagery Allegory Iron - In the book we hear the term The Iron Youth used to describe Paul s generation. The Iron Youth is an ideal of a strong Fatherland-lovin group of young soldiers who enlist and fight in the war as a way of showing pride for Germany and its history. The author and characters in the book tear this ideal apart, feeling it to be useless and empty when compared with the realities of war. These young soldiers are not made of iron, but of flesh and blood. The term iron would suggest they are protected emotionally and physically against all weapons of war, but this book proves to us that that is completely false. Lives melt away in the arms of this violent war. Iron†¦show more content†¦Rather than praying to a god for protection, or thanking a god for protection, Paul celebrates the Earth. Consider his words: To no man does the earth mean so much as to the soldier. When he presses himself down upon her long and powerfully, when he buries his face and his limbs deep in her from the fear of death by shell-fire, then she is his only friend, his brother, his mother; he stifles his terror and his cries in her silence and her security; she shelters him and gives him a new lease of ten seconds of life, receives him again and often for ever. Earth! – Earth! – Earth! Earth with thy folds, and hollows, and holes, into which a man may fling himself and crouch down! [†¦] O Earth, thou grantest us the great resisting surge of new-won life. (4.23-4.25) The earth has the power to protect and shelter soldiers when they hide in trenches or in holes made by shells. Earth proves to be a match for the man-made weapons that seek to kill men; for, even though Earth cannot fight back, it can protect Paul and his friends. Notice how Paul uses words like thy and grantest – it s as though he s reciting an old prayer. You could argue that he s praying to the only power that can help him. Quiet - If you re looking for a task that will take you, oh, all week to complete, count how many times the word quiet appears in this novel. We didn t have that much time on our hands, but we ll just say that this wonderful wordShow MoreRelatedAll Quiet On The Western Front1313 Words   |  6 PagesDustin Chapman Mrs. Smith English IV Honors January 10, 2015 Symbolism in All Quiet on the Western Front It’s no surprise that soldiers will more-than-likely never come home the same. Those who have not served do not often think of the torment and negative consequences that the soldiers who make it out of war face. Erich Remarque was someone who was able to take the torment that he faced after his experience in World War I and shed light on the brutality of warRead MoreDickens Symbolism in Hard Times4703 Words   |  19 PagesHard Times Symbolism, Imagery Allegory Sometimes, there’s more to Lit than meets the eye. Fairy Palaces and Elephants (a.k.a. Factories and the Machinery inside them) This one is from the narrator and runs throughout the novel: the idea that the ugly, square, fact-based, oppressive mills look like fairy palaces with elephants in them when they are lit up at night. The image first pops up as something a person riding by Coketown in a fast-moving train might say – in other words, someone whoRead MoreHumanities11870 Words   |  48 PagesBooks and Research Center Manila. The mechanics of expression via art work If we show some apples to ten persons, and ask them to tell us what are their opinions about the apples, we will probably get ten different answers, although they are all looking at the same apples. The reality is that different people react differently to the same object or events. The artist will have his/her own interpretations of things. In order to present this interpretation, the artist needs to decide onRead MoreA Picatrix Miscellany52019 Words   |  209 PagesLecture on Alchemy by Terence McKenna On the Moon and the Lunar Mansions IV. Extracts on the Moon V. The Mansions of the Moon: â€Å"On the Creation, Proportion and Composition of the Heavens for the Fashioning of Images† VI. The Picatrix: Lunar Mansions in Western Astrology VII. W. B. Yeats and â€Å"A Vision:† The Arab Mansions of the Moon On Ritual and Talismans Picatrix Astrological Magic Aphorisms Extracts on Planetary Ritual Clothing Twenty Two Benefic Astrological Talismans Astrology, Magical Talismans and