Response to question 3, quote 2.

“We are not youth any longer. We don't want to take the world by storm. We are fleeing. We fly from ourselves. From our life. We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world, and we had to shoot it to pieces. The first bomb, the first explosion, burst in our hearts.  We are cut off from activity, from striving, from progress. We believe in such things no longer, we believe in the war” (87-8). Paul Baumer, the narrator of "All Quiet on the Western Front," agrees with Albert's idea on how the so-called 'Iron Youth' has deteriorated upon the crew. In other word's Albert's message provides a compulsive view based on what makes the crew/squad lose their sense of innocence, despite the fact that the majority are not officially in their adulthood yet. While the passage also discusses the importance of growing up, in the sense that "We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world, and we had to shoot it to pieces.", the presumption of being innocent and young in the face of warfare is not something to favour. Paul Baumer, however, provokes a fundamental question associating back to the critical themes of the story. Growing up is very much based on the striving and dreaming about the future, but is it in the sense that the soldiers no longer "want to take the world by storm,"? Or is it just the lack of personal decision making in times of war? The question engages the reader in thinking mode as it relates back to the idea discussed in class on whether the crew are indeed an "Iron Youth." or boldly mature men. According to the passage from Paul Baumer, the concept of accepting maturity is displayed greatly throughout the context of the passage. The use of imagination and determination explain in-depth on how the soldiers are ready to accept death and sign a contract with the devil, they are prepared for the worst and are willing to take it. And that's what makes this quite interesting to me personally