- The narrator, Smithy, mentions “Mother and Mrs. Evans-Mawnington” when talking about her days in war, what she sees, and what she hears, starting on page 90. It is as if she is walking them through her life in the war and showing them around. She interrupts herself to address these women. Why does she mention her mother and Mrs. Evans-Mawnington when accounting events of war days? What is the effect? Does Smithy seem to hold anger or sadness in these moments (or both)? What can this say about the older generations compared to the generations involved in the war?
- In chapter five we are met with B.F. preparing to leave, the women giving speeches, and a argument between Skinny and Tosh. Given this range of relationships, how can we compare and contrast the friendships between the women drivers and Paul with his comrades on the front? More minutely, what is there to be said about the relationship these women have to one another, be that dislike or closeness, and how relationships are formed or broken in their situation? Does the proximity play a role in their attitudes towards each other or is it outside forces?
- In chapter 6-8 it is mentioned that The Bug is not doing well mentally and physically due to the war, and the way she is treated by Commandant. Tosh and Smithy hold intense worry for her and try their best to help. How does seeing the effect of the war on The Bug, who is not on the front but still being traumatized in similar ways, shape your view on the job of ambulance drivers? What is the emotional response to the horrors of the job explained throughout the latest chapters, especially in effect of the characters: Smithy, The Bug, and Tosh? What is the war and the job doing to them?
5 thoughts on “Tanner’s Reading Question for September 16 (Not So Quiet…)”
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I wanted to address your second question, since I have endless margin notes on the differences between male and female friendships in All Quiet on the Western Front and Not So Quiet. What fascinates me most is that in both novels, these relationships are considered “unusual.” We, as readers, are almost startled by how meaningful and unconventional they seem, which perhaps reveals how much we subconsciously expect certain gendered dynamics in friendships. For instance, the unspoken intimacy between Paul and his comrades sharply contrasts with the cultural expectation that men are not emotionally expressive with one another. Likewise, the biting humor and blunt attitudes shared by Smithy and the other ambulance drivers run counter to how we often stereotype female friendships as inherently nurturing, connective, and understanding. This contrast is not only an intriguing diagnosis of our own cultural assumptions but also raises the question of whether these dynamics are shaped by how men and women were brought into the war effort. Paul explains that he and his classmates were persuaded by teachers and authority figures—fueled by subtle promises of honor, patriotism, and masculinity. Smithy, on the other hand, repeatedly condemns the patriotic figures back home who pressure women into war service, often for the sake of their own honor rather than the women’s. In this sense, men are typically drawn into war for themselves—even if persuaded, the appeals feed their sense of manhood and personal glory—whereas women are sent for the sake of others, often sacrificing their autonomy to please families or communities. As a result, the men’s friendships are cemented through shared experiences of battle—the trauma, camaraderie, and physical survival—while the women struggle to build meaning in a service that is both undervalued and imposed upon them. This, as always, is definitely a half-formed thought, but I really enjoyed taking a stab at one of your questions!
How does seeing the effect of the war on The Bug shape your view on the job of ambulance drivers? What is the emotional response to the horrors of the job explained throughout the latest chapters, especially in Smithy, The Bug, and Tosh? What is the war and the job doing to them?
Hi Tanner! The last question you posed was something that really stood out to me through these last couple of chapters. Both Smithy’s narration in specific parts and the experience of The Bug made me reflect on their mental state and how they’ve been coping with the horrors that they’ve seen while working there. I’ve had a more difficult time following Smithy as the narrator for multiple reasons, the most major being how different her experiences are to that of Paul. Having seen the experiences on the battlefront versus on the homefront makes it difficult to see what these girls are going through as traumatic in the same way. It’s not to say that what they’re going through isn’t genuinely horrible and damaging, but it’s difficult to process in comparison to All Quiet.
That being said, the mental state that these girls are in has been something that I haven’t had any disconnect with. It’s harrowing the way that they act as a result of what they’ve experienced. They’re experiencing what looks like symptoms of hysteria, genuinely losing emotional stability and ability to function. In chapter 4 particularly, this stood out to me. Smithy’s narration is jarring and difficult to follow, and the same thing occurs early on and in chapter 7. We are able to see the drastic mental toll that these experiences have taken on the girls, most noticeably Smithy and The Bug.
Hi! I found your first question to be very interesting, as Smith’s more stream-of-consciousness narration style was something mentioned during class which I’d like to explore more. Smith begins reflecting on her mother and Mrs. Evans-Mawnington after receiving her mother’s letter, which predictably boasts of her “three heroes” compared to the single child Mrs. Evans-Mawnington has been able to “give to the country” (Smith 78). Both Smith’s mother and Mrs. Evans-Mawnington view their children as tokens of their own patriotism, something they can ship off to serve in war for their own pride and dignity. A few pages later, when Smith begins narrating in a way as though her mother and Mrs. Evans-Mawnington are there with her, she is imagining showing them the true horrors of the war. Smith’s tone is accusatory and passive-aggressive, revealing her inner fury at the way her mother and many others of the older generation are able to sit comfortably at home, bragging about the children they have sent out to war like cogs in a machine, while the children are witnessing extreme atrocities on a daily basis. I would interpret Smith in these pages to be almost exclusively angry rather than sad, as she mourns over “the life [the younger generation] thought was [their] own, but which is [their parents’] to squander as [they think] fit” (Smith 93). Overall, this section of the book provides an interesting commentary on the dichotomy between the two generations: one, sitting at home and bragging about the children whose fates they have decided for their own benefit, and two, the children who are suffering beyond anyone’s worst imaginations.
One of the interesting things about the range of relationships between the women in NSQ versus the relationships between the men in All Quiet is less of a commentary on gender differences than it is a reflection of the loss of individuality the men encountered on the battlefield. Both Paul and Smithy are in constant close quarters to their groups. The women in NSQ are able to retain their individuality to some extent, whereas the men at the front lose utterly everything about themselves in their quest for survival. As for your first question, I’d agree with Noah that I saw Smithy as mostly angry.
Question 1. The narrator, Smithy, mentions “Mother and Mrs. Evans-Mawnington” when talking about her days in the war, what she sees, and what she hears, starting on page 90. It is as if she is walking them through her life in the war and showing them around. She interrupts herself to address these women. Why does she mention her mother and Mrs. Evans-Mawnington when accounting events of war days? What is the effect? Does Smithy seem to hold anger or sadness in these moments (or both)? What can this say about the older generations compared to the generations involved in the war?
Answer. Sarcasm. Bitterness. Anger. Disillusion. Hopelessness. After a couple of hours waiting in an ambulance for a late-arriving hospital train, Helen is freezing cold behind the wheel and bone tired of the war and the life it gives. In her mind, she gives a tour of her life as an ambulance driver in France to her mother and her mother’s friend (and rival). Earlier that day Helen had received letters from England filled with the typical patriotic platitudes in support of Helen “doing her bit” for the war effort and shining credit on her family because of her “bravery”. Helen is sick to death of all the rosy ideas of the war that she gets from her family and friends safely ensconced in the Homefront and this mental “tour” for her mother and Mrs. Evans-Mawnington is the reality-shock she wishes she could give to them. If they just knew the truth, all the people back home who cheer on the flower of England in their roles in this horrible and senseless war would understand what war is really like. Helen’s sarcastic references to her “other and Mrs. Evans-Mawnington serve as a literary device to express her profound and bitter disillusionment not only for the war, but for the Homefront that still insists on spinning these falsehoods about duty in France. Her war tour guide comments are filled with a mix of anger, sadness, and contempt for her family’s complacent patriotism and ignorance of the brutal reality she faces every day.
The effect of mentioning her mother and Mrs. Evans-Mornington is many things:
· A personal act of revenge. By mentally forcing the two women to witness the horrors of her experience as an ambulance driver, Helen gains a small, private sense of retribution. Her mother and Mrs. Evans-Mawnington competed over which of them had made the greater “sacrifice” for the war effort, a competition Helen’s enlistment allowed her mother to win. In her mind, Helen is showing them the real cost of their social rivalry, forcing them to confront what their patriotic pride truly meant.
· Narrative contrast. These bitter, internal monologues highlight the stark divide between the propaganda and romanticism of war that takes place at the Homefront and the brutal reality on the front lines. The two women represent the blindness and hypocrisy of the civilian population. Their excitement for the war, as Helen notes, “you cheered and waved your flags hysterically”, is juxtaposed against the visceral suffering she witnesses, such as the “groans and heartrending cries” of the wounded.
· Intensification of anger and trauma. The imaginary presence of the two women serves to externalize Helen’s overwhelming feelings of sarcasm, bitterness, anger and hopelessness. It is her way of processing the psychological trauma by assigning a target to her righteous fury. By speaking directly to them, she vents her frustration at their cheerful ignorance and complicity in sending a generation to die for a cause they don’t truly understand.
Helen holds anger and sadness inside herself in equal measure:
Anger. Helen’s biting sarcasm is a clear sign of intense anger. She calls her mother’s generation’s support for the war “hysterical” and scorns their focus on patriotic platitudes. The anger stems from Helen’s realization that the war is not a glorious adventure but a senseless meat grinder, and that her loved ones at home are totally oblivious to the suffering they encouraged.
Sadness. Beneath Helen’s anger is a profound sadness over her lost innocence and the death of her youthful ideals. The contrast between her patriotic expectations and her nightmarish reality is a major theme throughout the book. She points out that the soldiers are “not singing now” and describes the emotional death she experienced, remarking that “her soul died that night”. This sadness is rooted in the trauma of her daily life and the realization that she can never go back to the naive person she was.
This book was published in 1930 and gives the perspective of a generation of young people coming of age during the Great War. Helen gives a powerful critique of the older, pre-war generation, who view war as a “glorious cause” and are anxious that their children not miss the adventure so that they may “do their bit” to support the cause of England. Reading the several pages of the book dedicated to this “tour” three things stand out:
· Ignorance versus experience. Helen’s generation is forced to confront the gruesome, dehumanizing truths of modern war, while their parents’ generation remains sheltered in a bubble of nationalistic fervor and glorified sacrifice. Her experience exposes the older generations disconnection (and naiveté) from the modern reality of industrialized warfare.
· Idealism vs. disillusionment. The older generation of Helen’s mother and Mrs. Mawnington who send its children to war with promises of glory and patriotic duty, is exposed as naïve and out of touch. Helen’s younger generation, having seen the devastating results of war, becomes deeply disillusioned. Her bitter recollections show the crushing of innocence and the tragic loss of faith in the very people who were supposed to raise, guide and protect them.
· Patriotism vs. reality. The older generation’s abstract, committee-driven patriotism is shown to be a shallow and cruel farce. For Helen and her sister ambulance drivers, patriotism has become nothing more than a cover for unimaginable brutality. They now view the concept of “doing their bit” with a searing cynicism born from witnessing the horror of war firsthand.
Question 2. In chapter five we are met with B.F. preparing to leave, the women giving speeches, and an argument between Skinny and Tosh. Given this range of relationships, how can we compare and contrast the friendships between the women drivers and Paul with his comrades on the front? More minutely, what is there to be said about the relationship these women have to one another, be that dislike or closeness, and how relationships are formed or broken in their situation? Does the proximity play a role in their attitudes towards each other or is it outside forces?
Answer. The entire book, “Not So Quiet…”, is a treatise on the relationships of women set against the backdrop of the First World War. Relationships as it applies to a woman inside herself and between women as a group, stuffed into a cramped living space, all of whom are living and seeing things no one had prepared them for. From the very first page, the reader looks deeply into the lives of the women ambulance drivers working in France; it is a complex mix of camaraderie borne of a terrible shared experience, petty jealousy, class tensions that are brought within the women from England, and resentment. From the very first page of “All Quiet on the Western Front” the reader sees the development of a contrasting relationship between men. With Paul Bäumer and his fellow soldiers, most of them come from the same social class and their first days in the trenches creates a deep, selfless bond between them. While both groups rely on their sisters/brothers for survival and sanity in the face of wartime trauma, the women’s relationships are fractured by pre-war societal expectations, while the men’s are a new, profound form of friendship born in the trenches. Some details:
· Foundation of the bond:
– The women ambulance drivers are mostly from the upper middle class (Helen was a
debutant who “came out” – read presented – in London!) as a result of volunteer ambulance
drivers needing initially to pay for their own training, uniforms and equipage and could
afford it. Once in France, they came into contact with women from other strata of English
society, many for the very first time, and it did not go well as many women brough their
inherent biases with them to France. There were also individual survival instincts, jealousy
and social rivalries.
– The men who came together in Bäumer’s company were forged as a “family” in the
crucible of battle and a new profound bond replaced the civilian identities. This was to be
expected of men in war as they were trained to believe. Women, on the other hand, were not to forget that “they are Ladies and never to lose your femininity and sense of place as Mrs. Evans- Mawnington admonished Helen to remember.
· Nature of the support:
– The women ambulance drivers in the book were described as having superficial and often
conditional relationships. The network of friends in the barracks provided support, but the
trust was fragile. A moment of kindness can be followed by a cruel remark. We never
discovered what the beef was between Tosh and Skinny but the reader can infer it was rooted
in biases brought from home.
– The men in Bäumer’s company developed a deep, intuitive, and unspoken understanding of
what they were in each other’s lives. The men cared for each other’s physical and emotional
needs, like Kat’s ability to find food for his hungry comrades or the instinct to pull a friend
into a dugout under fire.
· The role of social order / class:
– The women ambulance drivers were very aware of social standing at home and of class,
something that was never spoken of in “All Quiet on the Western Front”. Class in “Not so
Quiet…” plays a significant and destructive role. The women remain trapped by the class
distinctions of peacetime, leading to condescension and rivalry. The arguments between
Tosh and Skinny are symptomatic of these social resentments.
– The men with Bäumer do not think or speak of societal difference and class is largely
irrelevant. Differences in civilian life, such as Bäumer’s school friend group vs. the older
Kat, dissolve in the face of the shared, brutal reality of the front.
· The source of friction:
– The women. Internal. The women ambulance drivers are thrown into a pressure-cooker
environment that their gentle upbringing as society’s ladies never prepared them for, much less allowed them to think of anything other that the comfortable lives they will lead as adults. Arguments arise from the cramped living environment and nightmare duty. For some women, they are unable to shed their pre-war social selves. As B.F. leaves and speeches are given, it creates an opportunity for old animosities to surface, and the fight between Tosh and Skinny is an example.
– The men. External. With Bäumer and his fellow soldiers, friction comes primarily from
the brutalizing forces of the war itself, such as the cruelty of Himmelstoss. These external
threats tend to solidify, not weaken, the men’s bonds, and develop a deep, intuitive, and
unspoken understanding of what they were in each other’s lives.
· Permanence of the bonds:
– The women. Highly unstable. The friendships that developed was fragile and easily broken by personal resentments and the continuation of civilian norms even in the hell of the war. Truly, the women ambulance drivers are not fully able to leave their peacetime selves behind.
– The men. Transcendent. The bond formed in the trenches was stronger than any other Bäumer or his fellow soldiers had ever experienced. The loss of a friend for the men was an emotional wound that could never truly heal. Bäumer often reflected on how the old concepts of friendship are rendered meaningless by this new, war forged, “comradeship”.
The role of proximity in the book “Not So Quiet…” is a critical factor, but it functions differently for the women ambulance drivers and the soldiers of Bäumer’s Infantry company.
· For the women in “Not So Quiet…”, proximity acts as an accelerator for their existing social and class tensions. Trapped together in a high-stress environment, crammed into a small threadbare barrack, they are unable to escape the clashing personalities and old social rivalries. The close quarters intensify their dislikes and make them more visible, rather than bringing them together in a unified purpose like their male counterparts. The outside forces of society’s expectations and the internal baggage the women carry with them to France combine with their proximity to produce a corrosive, not strengthening, effect on their relationships.
· For the men in “All Quiet on the Western Front”, physical proximity in the trenches is the source of their profound bond. It creates an unbreakable intimacy born of shear survival, where they know each other’s needs without words. Each day they face death together, and each day they give out death together. The constant presence of a friend is the only true comfort available to these men in the trenches.
Question 3. In chapter 6-8 it is mentioned that The Bug is not doing well mentally and physically due to the war, and the way she is treated by the Commandant. Tosh and Smithy hold intense worry for her and try their best to help. How does seeing the effect of the war on The Bug, who is not on the front but still being traumatized in similar ways, shape your view of the job of ambulance drivers? What is the emotional response to the horrors of the job explained throughout the latest chapter, especially the effect of the characters: Smithy, The Bug, and Tosh? What is the war and the job doing to them?
Answer. Watching the physical, emotional and psychological effect of the war on The Bug is difficult. Here is a young woman who was encouraged to the point of “you will volunteer” by her family to “do her bit” to support the war effort in France. Nothing in The Bug’s life up to that point (or any of the other women ambulance driver for that matter) prepared her for what she would have to endure in France. These chapters explain and expand the reader’s understanding of the job of ambulance drivers by highlighting that the trauma of war that extends far beyond the battlefield. The constant exposure to the horrors of the wounded, combined with institutional cruelty, inflicts immense and lasting psychological damage. It is not merely the physical danger that the women drivers face, but the dehumanizing process of being an “emotional sponge” for the pain and suffering of others.
For an ambulance driver, the job is not only about providing medical transport but also about enduring a relentless barrage of emotional and psychological assaults. They must confront the physical effects of war on human bodies daily, which gradually erodes their mental and emotional well-being. The Bug’s deteriorating state demonstrates that even away from the direct fighting, the atmosphere of violence, death, and constant stress takes its toll. The Commandant’s malicious treatment adds a layer of betrayal and cruelty that further isolates and traumatizes The Bug. Through Helen, the reader is placed right along side the members of the Ambulance driver’s unit and as such, the creeping damage that The Bug suffers feels very personal. Taken in its entirety, my feeling is one of shared horror and then, ultimate respect for these women who bear the crushing burden of their responsibilities and still carry on with the mission.
Emotional response to the job’s horrors is explained in detail, and the reader is spared no detail. Constant revulsion, terror, and disgust without even a small respite of a comfort in the barracks, forces these women to build a wall of callousness around themselves (each in their own way) or risk breaking entirely. The different emotional responses of Smithy, The Bug, and Tosh illustrate the varied coping mechanisms and eventual disillusionment caused by the war:
· Smithy. Initially terrified and disgusted by the carnage, Helen forces herself to carry on, but harbors a deep hatred for the war’s pointlessness and the rosy illusion of the war her family believes back home in England. She learns to put on a brave face, but internally, she is filled with terror and a deep desire for the war to end.
· The Bug. The Bug’s mental and physical decline is a direct result of the relentless trauma. She is more fragile and less able to put up the brave facade that others do. Her breakdown is a reflection of the emotional and psychological toll that the war’s horrors inflict on those who are unable to detach emotionally. The Commandant’s cruelty exacerbates her pain, making a terrible situation unbearable.
· Tosh. Tosh demonstrates the deep bond of solidarity that forms among the women, acting as a protector for the more vulnerable Bug. Her intense worry shows that the emotional toll is not just individual but collective. These women lean on each other for support in an environment that is otherwise callous and unfeeling.
On every page of the book “Not So Quiet Now…” is a description of the war and the effects it has on all the women ambulance drivers. Each woman, in her own way, feels the effects:
· Disillusionment. The women arrive with patriotic notions of “doing their bit,” only to have them shattered by the reality of the war. They become disillusioned with the patriotic rhetoric at home, which contrasts harshly with the grotesque reality they face every day.
· Mental and physical deterioration. They face unsanitary conditions, exhausting work, and the constant exposure to suffering. This leads to both physical ailments and a gradual breakdown of their mental and emotional states.
· Erosion of humanity. The need to endure the unimaginable forces the women to suppress their natural human emotions, creating a callous exterior to protect their inner selves. This coping mechanism, while necessary for survival, distances them from their former, more sensitive selves.
· Trauma. The constant exposure to gruesome injuries and death leaves deep emotional scars. The book explicitly details the psychological effects, illustrating a form of trauma that we would now recognize as PTSD. The experiences of characters like The Bug serve as a warning about the hidden costs of war, even for those not in direct combat.