AQWF 4: Broken

Author's Note: While reading chapter four in All Quiet on the Western Front, the idea that one must be broken in order to have the ability to feel whole was heavily displayed. Without bumps across the way, it is impossible to know or feel what "good" feels like. Along with incorporating a mimic line from Remarque, I decided to write a poem, explaining how things must be broken in order to be whole, good again.

Broken
Beating, pulsing
Slower and slower,
Her heart thumps on in misery,
Reminiscing her old, lost love.

Her body folded, draped over
The couch, she hasn't moved
For days, days spent
Crying, breaking, shattering.

Lower than ever,
She is sure she has reached the end,
Her heart can take no more--
No more pain, sorrow, remembrance.

Nights fall, mornings rise.
And still no movement,
Still lying hopeless,
Drowning in her grief.

Finally a change.

The girl rises,
Not only from the couch,
And permanent position,
But from her deepest depression.

The sun shining though her windows,
She leaves her house,
Leaves her old memories,
Her old love,
Her sadness.

With newly found energy,
She walks.
Taking in the summer atmosphere,
She picks her heavy head up..

And sees him.

The quickening of her heart
Refreshes her mind,
The brokenness rushes,
Quickly out of her,
Everything changes.

Feeling better than ever,
A cure crosses her face--
A smile.

No more sorrow,
No more sadness,
No more tears.

Mimic Line
"The roar of the guns makes our lorry stagger, the reverberation raging away to the rear, everything quakes."(53).

The quickening of her heart refreshes her mind, the brokenness rushes quickly out of her, everything changes.

AQWF 1-3: Footsteps

Author's Note: Inspired by the quote, "Kemmerich has lost his foot. The leg is amputated," and how Kemmerich later died from his injuries, I decided to again reflect upon the motif that has impacted me the most and meant the most to me--feet, and how they display every part of us, our personalities, our experiences, and our life stories--that has been displayed in All Quiet on the Western Front. Although the feet of the soldiers may not have been literally cut off, that separation represents death, and how when one's life story ends, so does his life

Footsteps

Head down,
Watching my feet tread on
With a crisp sound,
They crunch the dry,
Hard straw beneath,
My every step.

My leather boots,
Worn to exhaustion,
Can take no more.
Their soles drenched,
Stained in blood,
Displaying my life--
Everywhere I have been,
Everything I have experienced.

With every last effort,
I continue to climb over
The endless piles--
Piles of the lost souls,
The souls of my friends,
My best friends.

Laying lifeless on the battleground,
Their shoes have been removed,
Their feet severed,
Leaving incomplete bodies,
Incomplete stories,
Incomplete lives,
Helpless, hopeless...



Dead.

AQWF 2

Coexisting Good and Evil

Constantly searching for the good, incredibly submerged, in the seemingly evil world allows those experiencing sadness to escape the grief, and focus on the positive. As this is heavily practiced, it seems quite miraculous that such beauty and good can coexist with darkness and evil. Displayed through beautiful imagery, Remarque conveys this idea of good in a truly evil world, and how it aids people through rough patches in their lives.

As war is a truly evil place, filled with unusual violence, disturbing distortions, and murderous death, beauty must be sought if one wishes to survive. When experiencing a death of one we long, we naturally do not want to focus on the sadness, but rather on the happiness or past memories of that lost person; finding the good in the evil situation. In order to get through the morning of Kemmerich, Baumer goes to his designated “happy place,” and drifts into the world of good, “Thoughts of girls, of flowery meadows, of white clouds...”(33). Obviously not wanting to face the death and evil, Baumer searches deeply for the good in his world, and solely focuses on those peaceful and happy memories. Because there is such paradox of good and evil coexisting in this world, it allows for beautiful miracles to occur—healing of those deeply wounded.

AQWF 1

Feet

Many believe that by looking into another’s eyes, it is possible to see their past experiences; however it also appears that one’s life story can be displayed through something much less expected—their feet. Throughout the first chapter of All Quiet on the Western Front, the motif of one’s feet and its deeply seeded meaning is obviously present, revealing, in a sense, that our life stories are told by our feet and their condition.

Although only a chapter into the novel, drastic changes are occurring to soldiers and their bodies—more specifically their feet; fellow soldiers also seem to know each other’s conditions of their feet quite precisely. If one has nice boots, and unharmed feet, he most likely has a hint of coward in him—not daring to put his life in danger. A dear friend to many, Kemmerich was severely injured while stuck in no man’s land—a place in which everyone is vulnerable, and accepting to the fact that death is coming their way. When visited, Kemmerich told his friends that, “I have such a damned pain in my foot”(14). Although he once did have a pain in his foot—a bump in his journey of life—his leg is now amputated, Kemmerich completely oblivious to this fact. With one foot gone, half of his life’s journey is an unanswerable question, leaving his future up for grabs. Because half of his story has been eliminated, and his body is nothing but useless, he is left with no option, but the inevitable. It seems necessary for him to return home, only to strengthen his other leg and foot, in hopes of rebuilding his broken life.