I. a) Why didn’t he kill the French soldier?Paul hesitated to kill the French soldier because the littlest ounce in his body felt remorse towards the suffering soldier.
Paul did have some thoughts in killing him, but when he thought about it, he just could not bring himself to kill him. He talked to the soldier and explained how their country did not know what they were doing to each other. Paul just wanted to increase the peace and he felt killing the French soldier would not do any good, since he was dying anyway. II. a) Why doesn’t the old folks listen to what Paul has to say about the war?The old men don’t give Paul a chance to speak about the war, because they do not want to hear Paul’s view on the war.
The old men had their own perspective on the war and they did not want to listen to what Paul had to say. They didn’t really think much of the war; they didn’t consider it as big of a deal as it really was. They really didn’t want to understand the war the way it was. III. b) Why did Paul swear to Mrs.
Kimmerick that her son died instantly? Did she want to hear the truth?Paul could not bear to break Mrs. Kimmerick’s heart by telling her that her son died slowly and painfully, instead of instantly. He really did not want to hurt her because he knew she didn’t really want to hear the truth. The war made Paul miserable.
Paul watches his friends die before his eyes, watches himself kill others, and sees his family and the interests that he had before the war slowly fade away because his life had become the war. b) What traits of Paul were not changed?Paul’s love for his country has not changed. He continued to fight in the war for his country although the war was retched and horrifying. His love for birds and drawing birds did not change, for he died in the middle of it.
V. a) What image of the war most stuck to your head?The part when the French soldier startled Paul and Paul stabs him was unforgettable. It was a dramatic scene and it was something that really touched me. It proved that Paul wasn’t just out there to kill, because if that were it, he would have killed the soldier. When Paul decides not to kill the French soldier, it showed he had some humanity in him, and that he knows that it was both their job to kill and they were both obligated to do so.
He felt some remorse and Paul had too much heart to kill the wounded soldier. VI. The film was an anti-war work. Using specific material from the film, evaluate the statement. This film portrayed war in the worst way. In the movie, soldiers were conditional to physical torment.
Blood surged, the sound of weapons and explosives were nonstop, innocent men died everywhere and the terror of the war was agonizing. When soldiers take shelter in the graveyard, bombs explode all around them; the living hide in coffins and the dead are thrown from their graves. The destructive power is so great that even the fundamental differences between life and death become blurred. The impact of war on the spirit is subtle.
They find themselves less able to return to civilian life – friends die all around them.Bibliography:
