War Ideology

1.    "We remember mighty little of all that rubbish. Anyway, it has never been the slightest use to us.  At school nobody ever taught us how to light a cigarette in a storm of rain, nor how a fire could be made with wet wood--nor that it is best to stick a bayonet in the belly because there it doesn't get jammed, as it does in the ribs" (85).

In Chapter 5 of All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul says the quote shown above. This quote is extremely important and powerful because it displays the change of ideology in the soldiers when entering the war. The soldiers admitted in this quote that what the had learned in school, was not applicable in their current military lives. To stress his view, he says," it has never been the slightest use to us." He puts in more detail saying , " nobody ever taught us how to light a cigarette in a storm of rain" and "how a fire could be made with wet wood" and "its best to stick a bayonet in the belly because there it doesn't get jammed". These three details show that what the learned at school didn't teach them how to be street smart. They were only able to learn all of this when living in the harsh conditions of war. The order that these were stated in shows the importance it could be to an ordinary person all the way to a military soldier. Paul is trying to make that connection between his old life and new. Comparing the difference of what normal people see and what soldiers see in the 1940's.