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In the quiet hours when the puzzling reflection of former days like a blurred mirror, projects beyond me the figure of my present existence, I often sit over against myself, as before a stranger, and wonder how the unnameable active principle that calls  itself All other expressions lie in a winter sleep, life is simply one continual watch against the menace of death; -- it has transformed us into unthinking animals in order to give us the weapon of instinct -- it has reinforced us with dullness, so that we do not go to pieces before the horror, which would overwhelm us if we had clear, conscious thought -- it has awakened in us a sense of comradeship, so that we can escape the abyss of solitude -- it has lent us the indifference of wild creatures, so that in spite of it all, we perceive the positive in every moment, and store iup as a reserve against the onslaught of nothingness” (273-274)

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In the concluding moments of the war Paul reflects upon himself realizing his past is unrecognizable. “ In the quiet hours when the puzzling reflection of former days like a blurred mirror….i often sit over against myself, as before a stranger…..all other expressions lie in a winter sleep.” In this stanza from the book Paul's speaks of a battle against himself claiming himself to be not himself. Remarque uses this metaphor of a winter's sleep to show that all emotion that won’t help Paul in war is an emotion he should hide and push deep down into a “winter's sleep”. Remarque also utilizes the simile of a blurred mirror to represent the life Paul once had, showing that the person he was before could never come back.

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When Paul looks back at himself, he can’t see the way he was back where he started. So he shuts all emotions but when he thinks about the differences between the two is that when he came back from the war he was given friends in it.

“In the quiet hours when the puzzling reflection of former days like a blurred mirror, projects beyond me the figure of my present existence”.

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When war is coming to an end and the Americans have joined the war, Paul becomes increasingly reflective of war. “In the quiet hours when the puzzling reflection of former days like a blurred mirror, projects beyond me the figure of my present existence, I often sit over against myself, as before a stranger, and wonder how the unnameable active principle that calls  itself to life has adapted itself even to this form.  All other expressions lie in a winter sleep, life is simply one continual watch against the menace of death”(273-274). Paul is talking about how his past is blurred and puzzling. Remarque uses a simile to give the idea of that his past is longer clear and that it has changed. He compares it to a stranger, someone who he does not know and fully trust. That helps emphasizes how much has changed during the war. This builds on the theme of the lost generation, that they can no longer go back to what they were. They don’t belong at home or at school talking to girls, they only belong at the front- in war. But his past self isn’t gone. He describes his emotions as a winter sleep. People that are in a winter sleep don’t have any emotions because they are sleeping. They can’t smile because their faces are frozen. His emotions aren’t gone, but they have been ignored and pushed down so far that it has become frozen. This also develops the theme of lost generation. That war changes people and completely removes them from the world before. They can only relate to the people they fought with. People outside of the war are naive and don’t know the real horrors of war.

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When paul says this, he is referring that he doesn’t know himself anymore, he means that he has changed so much because of the war. He uses a simile by referring his former days to a blurred mirror. The blurred mirror is a symbol for him not seeing his old self and that he sees a stranger in front of him.

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Paul is a stranger to himself and doesn’t know himself, this is a metaphor being used. “the puzzling reflection of former days like a blurred mirror, projects beyond me the figure of my present existence.’The blurred mirror of a shadow is used to show visual imagery of what is being compared. Paul sees himself as someone he doesn’t recognized.“ All other expressions lie in a winter sleep, life is simply one continual watch against the menace of death.” Paul has shut down his emotions and can no longer be how he was before the war. Stream of consciousness at the end is also shown because of his thoughts that go on and on and show the alienation of how they felt.

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Near the end of the war, Paul is reflecting on all that has happened and how he can't distinguish himself from his old self, “In the quiet hours when the puzzling reflection of former days like a blurred mirror, projects beyond me the figure of my present existence”(273-274). Remarque uses a simile to show how a mirror distorts an image and so we can't see an object clearly. This also brings up the theme of alienation, Paul can't remember his old self because of what he has gone through in war. In addition, he talks about how his feelings are in a winter sleep, this explains that he has no emotions at the moment because he has chosen to pull them back the whole time he was in the war. The enemy that the men have been evading all this time was death. Everything they did was to survive and then they have done some of these things without thinking since it was either kill or be killed. Another thing they tried to evade was solitude “we perceive the positive in every moment, and store it up as a reserve against the onslaught of nothingness” (273-274). The reason that Paul was able to survive this whole time was because he didn’t do everything alone. He was always with Muller, kemmerich, or Tjaden.

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Towards the end of the war, Paul gestures to his life before the war as an unrecognizable stranger, reflecting upon himself, though foreign. The metaphor expressed in the quote suggests the winter sleep of his emotions is merely a frozen chamber buried into his mind, waiting for it to someday thaw away the ice. As Paul was expressing his thoughts, he says “I often sit over against myself, as before a stranger, and wonder how the unnamable active principle that calls itself to life has adapted itself even to this form. All other expressions lie in a winter sleep, life is simply one continual watch against the menace of death;-”(Remarque 273-274). Remarque mentions the narrator’s true fear- death. Paul fights not against deemed rivals, but instead Death; the fear drives him and many other soldiers to animalistic instincts harbored in them. It takes over their minds, to not linger on emotions that would cause them to crumple to their knees.

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Near the end of the war, Paul is talking about war and what is has done to him and his comrades. He thinks to himself, “In the quiet hours when the puzzling reflection of former days like a blurred mirror, projects beyond me the figure of my present existence, I often sit over against myself, as before a stranger, and wonder how the unnameable active principle that calls itself to life has adapted itself even to this form.  All other expressions lie in a winter sleep, life is simply one continual watch against the menace of death”(273-274). Remarque uses figurative language such as metaphors to compare Paul’s past to a winter sleep and a blurred mirror. The winter sleep symbolizes that he is frozen in this time and can’t go back to the past, but after winter is spring so there is hope that he can go back to his old life. Blurred mirrors are ones that you cannot see clearly just like how Paul's past is unrecognizable. The figurative language further develops Paul’s character as he shuts down emotionally then furthers the theme of lost generation.

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And this is only one hospital, one single station; there are hundreds of thousands in Germany, hundreds of thousands in France, hundreds of thousands in Russia.  How senseless is everything that can ever be written, done, or thought, when such things are possible,  It must be all lies and of no account when the culture of a thousand years could not prevent this stream of blood being poured out, these torture chambers in their hundreds of thousands.  A hospital alone shows what war is

In the quote above, Remarque shows that Paul is talking about the type of imagery that is shown is setting. Paul describes what the hospital is like. “And this is only one hospital, one single station; there are hundreds of thousands in Germany, hundreds of thousands in France, hundreds of thousands in Russia.” This is when Paul describes what the hospital is like.

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This quote conveys that the hospital is saturated with the destructiveness of war; it is perceived as full of torture chambers. During Paul’s visit at the war hospital, he witnessed many casualties around him “And this only one hospital, one single station; there are hundreds in Germany,  hundreds in France, hundreds of thousands in Russia...stream of blood being poured out, these torture chambers in their hundreds of thousands. A hospital alone shows what war is”(Remarque 263). A hospital brings the idea of broken people resting inside, numbers rather than identities. They all harbor a soul, despite a senseless mistake that made everything go wrong. The hospital claims to help, but only seems to never find an end to truly fix things. There are many standing hospitals containing hundreds of thousands of people, those who are dismissed in the real world after being deemed unfixable; it, alone, can represent war.

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In this quote, it shows the destructiveness of war. The quote has visual imagery when it says “stream of blood being poured out”, and “torture chambers”. This shows the destructiveness of war because when you read those words you can picture the stream of blood and how it would look if you saw it. “And this is only one hospital, one single station; there are hundreds of thousands in Germany, hundreds of thousands in France, hundreds of thousands in Russia”. This shows how many people are dying in the hospital and on the battlefield because they are fighting for their country.

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After being injured, Paul is in the hospital with Albert. Paul realizes that the reality of war is harsh and a lot of soldiers are wounded. “It must be all lies and of no account when the culture of a thousand years could not prevent this stream of blood being poured out, these torture chambers in their hundreds of thousands. A hospital alone shows what war is” (263). The imagery shows the horrors of war and how the hospital is being compared to war and that they both illustrate the theme of destructiveness of war.

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In this quote, Remarque is describing how thousands of innocent people were injured or killed during the war. “And this is only one hospital, one single station; there are hundreds of thousands in Germany, hundreds of thousands in France, hundreds of thousands in Russia.” (263) By doing this he is showing the theme of the destructiveness of war. All the men in the three countries lost a great number of people and most of them were young men who were innocent and were influenced into going to war. This shows visual imagery by explaining how many people have died. When Paul describes how the hospital is full of thousands of men, he is showing how the war took away the boy's innocence. Also, Paul says “It must be all lies and of no account when the culture of a thousand years could not prevent this stream of blood being poured out, these torture chambers in their hundreds of thousands.  A hospital alone shows what war is” (263). In this quote, he is referring to how all the stories of the glory of war have been a lie and that they are living through the consequences. The consequences of the war are that these men are dying and the great loss could have been prevented if they were actually told the true values of war. By not telling them the consequences, the men are now injured and some dead.

“And this is only one hospital, one single station; there are hundreds of thousands in Germany, hundreds of thousands in France, hundreds of thousands in Russia.”

“It must be all lies and of no account when the culture of a thousand years could not prevent this stream of blood being poured out, these torture chambers in their hundreds of thousands.  A hospital alone shows what war is” (263).

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“How senseless is everything that can ever be written, done, or thought, when such things are possible,  It must be all lies and of no account when the culture of a thousand years could not prevent this stream of blood being poured out, these torture chambers in their hundreds of thousands.  A hospital alone shows what war is”

Paul is injured and had been sent to the hospital. There had been a hundreds of thousands people that had died in this war and it shows that this isn’t only happening to them it is happening to everyone. This quote shows the destructiveness when it says “ the culture of a thousands of years could not prevent this stream of blood being poured out”, this showing how many people are dying because of the war.

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When Paul gets injured while guarding an abandoned village, he is sent to the hospital. “A man cannot realize that above such shattered bodies there are still human faces in which life goes its daily round.  And this is only one hospital, one single station; there are hundreds of thousands in Germany, hundreds of thousands in France, hundreds of thousands in Russia.  How senseless is everything that can ever be written, done, or thought, when such things are possible,  It must be all lies and of no account when the culture of a thousand years could not prevent this stream of blood being poured out, these torture chambers in their hundreds of thousands. A hospital alone shows what war is”. Paul talks about how in only one hospital, he has seen so many people die and all the chaos in it. Not only are people only dying in this one hospital, all over Europe men are dying by the thousands. Remarque uses repetition to emphasize the amount of death happening in the world. This develops the theme of the destructiveness of war. There is also a sense of betrayal in there. He says that there was no way that a culture of a thousand years could not prevent the war. This develops the idea that power corrupts, that the war only happened because the older generation sent them to kill each other over land, money, power, and fame.

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“A man cannot realize that above such shattered bodies there are still human faces in which life goes its daily round.  And this is only one hospital, one single station; there are hundreds of thousands in Germany, hundreds of thousands in France, hundreds of thousands in Russia”. Hospital setting is a representative of all the bad that happens in world war. Repetition in this quote underscores the whole idea that this isn’t happening only to paul and his friend this happens to all soldiers in war.

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(Effects of war)

It must be all lies and of no account when the culture of a thousand years could not prevent this stream of blood being poured out, these torture chambers in their hundreds of thousands.  A hospital alone shows what war is” (263).

The soldiers go to the hospital in which the wounded soldiers go to for treatment and care, and when the soldier arrive and look around the hospital they realize the destruction of the war, with all of the young lives taken by the war.

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Paul after being hit severely by shrapnel accompanies Albert to the hospital. When arriving Paul comes to a realization, “How senseless is everything...it must be all lies and of no account when the culture of a thousand years could not prevent this stream of blood being poured out.” it is clear to Paul now how “senseless” and destructive this war has become. It is clear that millions are dying not just his small army.

Remarque uses repetition mentioning the “hundreds of thousands” that get their blood spilt due to the war which adds a tone of seriousness to the story

This quote overall shows how the war is destructive and how it affects all soldiers who fight for their country

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This quote shows that the authority grants them to commit murder. It shows shared humanity and uses figurative language by saying christ like figures "apostles beards". The shared humanity is shown between Paul and the “enemy” that he has more in common with them rather than his own friends and family.

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“But who can draw such distinction when he looks at these quiet men with their childlike faces and apostles’ beards.”

Returning from leave Paul had been given the job to watch over Russian prisoners. In this time Paul was given a chance to reflect.”But who can draw such distinctions when he looks at these quiet men with their childlike faces and apostles’ beards.” The prisoners appear as apostles’  experienced and aged by war to Paul however they are young innocent  boys  who are not so innocent thanks to their commissioners.

Remarque uses this metaphor to show Paul’s compassion for the prisoners be cause although he is free and they are trapped. Everyone is trapped in war and between Paul and the prisoners humanity is shared

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During Pual is guarding the Russian prisoners, he talks about the prisoners.“But who can draw such distinction when he looks at these quiet men with their childlike faces and apostles’ beards.  Any noncommissioned officer is more of an enemy to a recruit, any schoolmaster to a pupil,than they are to us.  And yet we would shoot at them again and they at us if they were free”. Paul describes the prisoners as a childlike face with apostles beards. The child part gives the prisoners a innocent look, like they do not belong in the war, or the prison. Also, children do not have power. By calling them children he lets the reader realize that he has all the power compared to the russians. After giving his description of the soldiers, he talks about how they would be less of a threat to him but a schoolmaster or a noncommissioned officer is more of a threat. Saying that, he implies that he has more in common with them. That they aren’t bad, but what makes them go into war and try to shoot him are the older generation who also sent him into war. This is an example of shared humanity.

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Paul is at the prison guarding Russian prisoners.The highest crime possible is murder. This quote shows a lot of imagery and also theme. This part of the quote shows shared humanity because he talks and describes the men as if he feels pity for torturing them. Also Paul describes what his orders are while he is a guard.

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“But who can draw such distinction when he looks at these quiet men with their childlike faces and apostles’ beards.  Any noncommissioned officer is more of an enemy to a recruit, any schoolmaster to a pupil,than they are to us.  And yet we would shoot at them again and they at us if they were free”

CM- After Paul saw the prisoners, he find out that he feels bad for them, he want to know where they live and what is their name.This is showing shared humanity through the similes, metaphors, and the Christ like saying, and also that the prisoners are going through the same thing they are,although the prisoners are Paul’s enemy, but he still feels bad for them and want them to regain freedom.

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In this quote, Paul is sitting in the prison with the Russian soldiers and he is showing compassion towards the soldiers.Remarque uses figurative language such as similes and metaphors to compare the Russian prisoners to apostles. “But who can draw such distinction when he looks at these quiet men with their childlike faces and apostles’ beards”(194).  This comparison makes the Russians a christ figure. Remarque uses the figurative language to further the theme of shared humanity. Remarque uses

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“A word of command has made these silent figures our enemies; a word of command might transform them into our friends.” This quote is a great example of abusive commands because of the way Paulb states silent figures calling them the enemies unless a word of command is said in order to transform them to a comrade not an enemy.

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Paul is in the prison and looking after the Russian soldiers. He sees how the prisoners are going through the same situation as they are, where they are in a war and they are innocent. This shows the theme of shared humanity between the two sides at the moment of war. He realizes this when he says “A word of command has made these silent figures our enemies; a word of command might transform them into our friends.” (193-194) Both sides might have been influenced by a more authoritative person by getting told the glories of war. They are then let down when they realize what war really does to people. The men in the war are stripped away from their sense of humanity in order to survive the war.

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The quote conveys that a simple word of command and signed document holds the authority to direct lives to do as they’re told; they are granted to commit murder, one of the highest crimes frowned upon in society, to bring pride to their country. The quote expresses shared humanity and compassion through figurative language, simile and Christ-like figure; during his watch on the prisoners, Paul says “But who can draw such distinction when he looks at these quiet men with their childlike faces and apostles’ beards”(Remarque 193-194). The quote corroborates to corruption in society and government, for what we’re told are enemies are as innocent as us; an officer who admits us into the dream-trampling battlefield is the genuine enemy disguised as a recruiter.