Period 5
2-1-13
Chapters 5-6
Summary: Himmelstoss is sent to the front as a
punishment for tormenting recruits. Himmelstoss comes over and orders Tjaden to
stand but Tjaden moons him. The boys talk about what they will do after the
war. Authorities come looking for Tjaden but the boys wont give him up. Tjaden
and Kropp are put on trial for insuboridination and they receive light
punishments because of the way
Himmelstoss treated them and Himmelstoss gets talked to about his
behavior. Tjaden receives three days of
arrest and Kropp gets one. The boys then
go back to the farmhouse and kill the geese and eat it. In chapter 6, the
Second Company return to the front two days early. Men wait and receive food
and ammunition. Days pass and then the
bombs begin to fall, and a recruit cracks and tries to leave so Kat and Paul
have to beat him into submission. The
dugout receives a direct hit, and a recruit escapes. The shelling lessons and
the attack comes. The company fights
ferociously and wreak havoc before grabbing all the provisions they can carry
and run back to rest. Paul keeps watch and days pass and many are dead and
wounded. Paul runs into Himmelstoss pretending to be wounded. They rush forward
with an attack and Haie receives a fatal wound. In the end only 32 of the 150
men remain.
Quotation: “We have become wild
beasts. We do not fight, we defend ourselves against annihilation. It is not
against men that we fling our bombs, what do we know of men in this moment when
Death is hunting us down- now, for the first time in three days we can see his
face, now for the first time in three days we can oppose him; we feel a mad
anger” (113).
Quotation Significance: Paul and
the men are just about to fight after days of waiting and Paul is saying that
he is not fighting against these men, he is just running from death. The men
attack each other but Death is the real enemy, not the men themselves.
Reflection: In this chapter, Paul
and the men return to the front. In this section of the book we begin to see
more of how Paul is an experienced soldier who knows what he is doing on the
battle field. The men are reinforced with recruits who are barely trained and
drop like flies. Haie receives a fatal wound and only 32 of the 150 men die. Paul
begins to reflect how Death is the real enemy in this war, not the men fighting
against them. On watch, Paul has daydreams of being in a cathedral and talks
about how this memories are strange and move him. The men are tired and in
chapter 5 they talk about how they don’t know what they are going to do after
the war. Kat has a wife and children, but most talk of getting drunk and being
with women but Paul doesn’t know how to answer this question. He knows that the
war has become his whole life and he doesn’t know where he will go after the
war is over. In chapter 5, Tjaden also
moons Himmelstoss and gets three days of jail time. But after considering what
he did to Tjaden the judge goes easy on him and if I was Tjaden I wouldn’t show
Himmelstoss too much respect but it seems like the boys and Tjaden keep
punishing Himmelstoss. They did it once (where they beat him senseless) but now
they are doing reckless things to keep punishing him. It seems like they are
almost punishing Himmelstoss for making them into monsters and someone they
didn’t want to be.
Discussion Question: Why do you think the boys keep punishing
Himmelstoss?
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