The loss of youth is, at least to me, one of the greatest personal tragedies. It happens to everyone but it’s still a profound loss, especially when that loss is forced – as in the case of Paul and his peers. What really stood out to me was the fact that, in this story, it wasn’t the encroaching war itself that convinced these young soldiers to abandon their youth. It was their teacher, who himself is able to, due to his age and status, shirk the front lines while putting his students in incredible peril. Paul states that he and his fellow students were let down by these authority figures they were taught to trust (p. 12).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His teacher, Kantorek, “would say that we stood on the threshold of life” (p. 20). These young men had their entire lives ahead of them. Yet the war has taken advantage of that youthful outlook and stripped them of everything, leaving them with no identity but that of soldiers. When they first enlisted, they were eager and enthusiastic, even romanticizing the war (p. 21 – 22). But no longer. They have been forced to adapt, to abandon their youth. As Paul says in Chapter 5 – “We are not youth any longer… we were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces” (p. 87 – 88). It’s an extremely poignant and haunting idea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The loss of youth is, at least to me, one of the greatest personal tragedies. It happens to everyone but it’s still a profound loss, especially when that loss is forced – as in the case of Paul and his … Continue reading