After the Second Company’s return to base camp following their latest tour of the Western Front, the remaining men attempt to regroup and relax. They lounge around in order to pass the time between another inevitable stay in the trenches. For the time being, Bäumer, Kat and the others, “have the two things a soldier needs for contentment: good food and rest” (Remarque 138). Upon the return from one of his adventures with his close friends, Bäumer is called into the Orderly Room and given permission to head home on leave for about two weeks. Although he wishes to visit his family, he is slightly reluctant to leave only because he knows that he may never see some of his friends again if they are called to the front before he returns. Also, Paul has a hard time imagining what life will be like back at home after all that he has experienced along the battle lines.
Much of the passage that I read deals with Bäumer’s experience while on leave. At first he is so overcome with emotion upon his return home that he can barely speak to his sister and mother. I also noticed that the author included the use of symbolism when depicting Paul’s return home. Paul writes, “I lean against the wall and grip my helmet and rifle. I hold them as tight as I can, but I cannot take another step” (Remarque 156). This statement represents the difficulty Bäumer will have transitioning back into civilian life, whether that difficulty exists now or for the rest of his life. Also, I feel as if Paul has difficulty connecting to his previous life before the war because he has changed so greatly in the time while he was gone, while the people of his hometown have changed very little. In fact, I recently listened to a This American Life podcast (http://www.thisamericanlife.org/) which detailed this difficult transition from wartime to peacetime and which included first-hand accounts of how soldiers felt when they returned home. Many of them described how they felt incredibly nervous to be returning home because they felt as if their loved ones would not know them anymore and that it would be impossible to reconnect with them because of how they had changed.
I also recognized that the way in which we treat the emotional health of soldiers is very different from the treatment methods used after World War I. Since doctors have discovered PTSD and the extremely damaging effects it can have on soldiers, people are beginning to stress the importance of helping soldiers ease back into civilian life. In Bäumer’s case, the people of his hometown only want to hear of the battles he fought and the spirit of the troops along the front lines. Soon, Bäumer begins to feel depressed as no one else understands what he had to endure as a soldier and he has no way to express his true feelings. The people around him only tell him that he needs to defeat the French, yet they have no idea of how bad things truly are and Paul finds it difficult to talk to anyone without feeling anger and loneliness. He also attempts to hide the details of the war from the people around him, especially his mother, for fear that he would frighten them. For example, when Paul’s mother asks him whether or not the war is bad he says, “No, Mother, not so very. There are always a lot of us together so it isn’t so bad” (Remarque 161).
In the end, Paul’s leave ends up making his return even worse, as he now has an idea of life outside of the war. Perhaps he even has something to lose as he may never see his family again if he is killed during the fighting. After a stint at a training camp, Paul returns to the Second Company to find that all of his friends are still alive. Also, there camp is situated beside a German war prison and Paul often has to watch over the Russian prisoners.
While he is watching over the prisoners, something odd begins to occur. Slowly, he begins to become sympathetic to the Russians and he even provides them with some of his food. This empathy causes Paul to completely lose control over his thoughts about the meaning behind the war, and he starts questioning his comrades about why they are even fighting. He receives mixed responses and this only makes it more difficult to determine whether or not he believes in what he is fighting for. I have included a glogster to emphasize this conflict. http://alex82895.glogster.com/baumers-uncertainty/ Also, I have included another glogster to highlight Paul’s mixed emotions towards what were supposed to be his enemies, the Russians. http://alex82895.glogster.com/the-russians/ I predict that as Paul’s views become more and more unstable, so will his ability to resist the pressure placed on him by the constant fighting. Hopefully, this instability won’t lead to the death of Paul or any of his fellow soldiers.
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