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All Quiet on the Western Front
Introductory Notes for World War I and Erich Maria Remarque
I. World War I
A. June 28, 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was
assassinated by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, Bosnia.
B. Austrian government planned retaliation, but took into
consideration Russian reaction. As a precaution Austria invoked the
aid of their allies, the Germans.
C. July 23, 1914 Austrian empire issued Serbia an ultimatum-
punish the terrorists and allow Austria to have a say in Serbian
military affairs.
D. Two hours before the 48 hour ultimatum expired, the Serbians
responded, but not with complete acceptance of the terms, and their
proposal was rejected.
E. Austria declared war on Serbia. Russia began mobilizing
troops to come to Serbia’s aid. Two days later, Germany joined the
fight for Austria. Germany attacked France, one of Russia’s allies.
F. In order to attack France, Germany went through Belgium. The
British were Belgian allies and gave Germany the ultimatum to leave
Belgium. Germany ignored Britain’s request and Great Britain joined
the war. The war already included Czechs, Poles, Romanians,
Russians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Arabs, and eventually Italians and
Turks. Germany faced Russian, French, and British enemies who
outnumbered them 10 million to 6 million.
G. WWI was the first war to use machine guns, tanks,
sophisticated explosives, airplanes, and poisonous gas. Technology
surpassed tactics and casualties were great on all sides.
H. Trench warfare- Both sides dug deep ditches for their
soldiers to avoid the destruction of new weapons. Opposing trenches
were often several hundred yards apart. The middle ground was full
of barbed wire and was often referred to as no man’s land.
I. The Western Front- 475 mile battle line between the Germans
and the Allies. Along the line were, 900,000 German soldiers and 1.2
million Allies. It was not one continuous trench, but a series of
disconnected trenches and fortifications.
J. Nights in the trenches were spent in hard labor. The trench
walls had to be repaired and barbed wire had to be laid while
sandbags had to be filled. The mornings consisted of lining up in
case of an attack, and the rest of the day in sleep or idleness.
K. Life in the trench included soggy food, trench foot (turned
feet green, swollen, and painful from being constantly wet), and
trench fever transmitted by lice that infested everyone after the
first couple of days on the front line.
L. Casualties- Allies
i. Russia- 9,150,000
ii. England- 3,190,235
iii. France- 6,160,000
iv. Italy- 2,197,000
v. U.S.- 323,018
vi. Serbia- 331,106
Central Powers
vii. Germany- 7,142,558
viii. Austria-Hungary- 7,020,000
______________________________________
II. Erich Maria Remarque
A. Born June 22, 1898/Died September 25, 1970
B. Real name, Erich Paul Remarque- he used the middle name Maria
as his pseudonym after his mother
C. Born in Osnabruck, Germany. He was the 2nd son and 3rd child
of four (he had two sisters and one brother, but the brother died at
a very early age).
D. Parents were lower middle-class Roman-Catholic. Dad was a
bookbinder. Family was so poor, they moved 11 times between 1898-1912.
E. EMR was a pianist-considered professional music career. He
used the money he earned from giving piano lessons to buy his own
clothes.
F. Beginning of WWI his mother was diagnosed with cancer.
G. EMR went to school to become a teacher, but in his third
year he was drafted to WWI at age 18.
H. EMR was wounded several times, including shrapnel to the
wrist that effectively ended any possible career as a pianist.
I. His mother and close friend died while he was in the hospital.
J. He was eventually cleared to return to duty, but luckily for
him, the war ended.
K. He became a teacher for a short time, but this was his
parents’ idea, not his own.
L. Bored with teaching he took on odd jobs: a test car driver
for a tire company, a stonecutter for a tombstone firm, and on
Sundays he played the organ in an insane asylum, town drama-critic,
wrote advertising copy and eventually became an editor.
M. Early 1920, Erich Remark published such a horribly received
novel that he changed his name to his great grandfather’s spelling
(Remarque).
N. EMR married an actress, Jutta Ilse Zambona in 1925. (They
marry and divorce twice).
O. AQWF was rejected by one publisher, but was then published in
serials (sections/installments). When it was finally published in
its entirety in 1929, it sold 1.2 million copies in the first year
and was quickly translated into 12 languages.
P. EMR divorced his wife in 1930 (rumors of EMR’s infidelity)
but they remarried almost immediately so that Ilse, who suffered from
tuberculosis, would not lose her Swiss residence permit. They lived
separately until their final divorce in 1951.
Q. 1931 the sequel to AQWF, The Road Back, was published.
R. 1933 EMR was exiled from Germany and AQWF was burned by the
Nazis. The Nazis believed the book and EMR to be pacifistic.
S. EMR was friends with such Hollywood stars as Marlene
Dietrich, Greta Garbo, and Charlie Chaplin as well as Cole Porter, F.
Scott Fitzgerald, and Ernest Hemingway.
T. 1938 EMR lost his German citizenship.
U. 1941 EMR became an American citizen.
V. 1943 his younger sister was beheaded by the Nazis for
spreading propaganda.
W. 1958 EMR married American actress, Paulette Goddard.
X. EMR wrote 11 novels altogether.
Y. EMR suffered a series of heart attacks in the late 1960’s.
He died in a hospital in Locarno, Switzerland.
Z. The end.
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Modernism:
PERSPECTIVISM
locating meaning from the viewpoint of the individual
IMPRESSIONISM
an emphasis on the process of perception and knowing
(RE) PRESENTATION OF INNER PSYCHOLOGICAL REALITY OR INTERIORITY
including the “flow” of experience, through devices such as stream of
consciousness.
TIME AS INTERIOR
Time becomes psychological time (time internally/emotionally
experienced) or symbolic time (time or measures of time as a symbolic
rather than historical reality).
EMPHASIS ON LANGUAGE
Language is no longer seen as transparent, it is something if used
correctly allows us to “see through” to reality. Language is viewed
as complex.
EMPHASIS ON THE EXPERIMENTAL
meant to present differently the structure, the connections, and the
experience of life
EMPHASIS ON FORM
an emphasis on cohesion, interrelatedness, and depth in the structure
of the object and of experience.
NON-LINEARITY
a narrative technique wherein events are portrayed out of
chronological order. It is often used to mimic the structure and
recall of human memory .
AMBIGUOUS ENDINGS
turn to “open” or ambiguous endings, again seen to be more
representative of “reality” -- as opposed to “closed” endings, in
which matters are resolved.
TYPICAL THEMES
The appearance of various typical themes, including: question of the
reality of experience itself; the search for a ground of meaning in a
world without God; the critique of the traditional values of the
culture; the loss of meaning and hope in the modern world and an
exploration of how this loss may be faced.
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Life of Pi Vocabulary
12/19- Copy the words from Chapters 1-45.
Define the words for chapters 1-5. Alphabetical listing (total=98
words):
• Chapter 1 through 4 (14 words):
AN-purveyor, obscurely, exemplary
1 - in situ, indolence, elicited, illustrious
3 - ludicrous, credible
4 - incessant, profusion, abiding, compulsion, discernment
• Chapter 5 through 24 (14 words):
5 - aspiring
14 - amenable
17 - unremitting, adversity, deportment, petulant, placidly
18 - hovel, entailed
20 - guttural
23 - secular, askance, piety, apoplectic
• Chapter 25 through 45 (17 words):
25 - depravity
33 - sullenly, plausible
38 - dyspeptic
41 - protruded
43 - preceding, carrion, diligent, indiscriminate, aversion
45 - imperceptible, bask, remonstrations, revulsion, empathy,
callous, amicably
• Chapter 46 through 53 (17 words):
46 - chromatic, incongruously, dilated, formidable, forlorn,
coherence, ineffectually, invigorating
49 - conundrum, insouciant
50 - dire
51 - supplication
53 - lucidity, oppressive, poignancy, rufous, voraciously
• Chapter 54 through 70 (18 words):
54 - erratic, attrition
55 - radical
56 - unerring
58 - cryptic, injunction, gastronomic
60 - throe
61 - sentient, sanguinary
62 - lethargic, marred
63 - putrid, fitful
64 - disfiguring
67 - multitude, gelatinous
70 - forbearance
• Chapter 71 through 99 (18 words):
71 - afflicting, pivotal
72 - ordnance
74 - consecrated
79 - incongruously
81 - sustenance
89 - emaciated
90 - infernal, obtuse, conjures
91 - amply
92 - delusion, olfactory, desalinated, rote, turmoil
99 - feral, reprieve
Life of Pi Reading Questions
Chapters 1-2
1. How does the three-toed sloth survive?
2. Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics
to nonhumans. Find 3 examples of anthropomorphism on pp 4-5.
3. Identify and explain 3-4 examples of imagery, figurative
language on pp.6-7.
4. In chapter 2, in italics, who is the narrator and who is the
subject?
Chapters 3-5
5. Describe how Pi comes to be named after a French swimming
pool.
6. Pi does not agree with people who “think animals in the wild
are ‘happy’ because they are ‘free’” (ch. 4, p. 15), why?
7. Describe how and why Piscine Molitor Patel becomes Pi.
8. Pi writes his name on the blackboard with every teacher
during the day. He says that “repetition is important in the
training not only of animals but also of humans” (ch.5, p.23).
Explain.
Life of Pi Reading Questions
Chapters 6 - 7
1. Pi’s house is both overheated and overstocked. Why?
2. What is the difference between an athiest and an agnostic?
3. Describe Mr. Kumar.
4. Why is Mr. Kumar so important to Pi?
5. Why does Pi dislike agnostics more than atheists?
Chapter 8
6. How does Pi’s father teach him that “an animal is an animal?”
7. How does Ravi, Pi’s older brother, terrorize him after the
tiger incident?
Life of Pi Vocabulary
12/19- Copy the words from Chapters 1-45 and define. You may start
on these while I issue novels.
Alphabetical listing (total=98 words):
• Chapter 1 through 4 (14 words):
AN-purveyor, obscurely, exemplary
1 - in situ, indolence, elicited, illustrious
3 - ludicrous, credible
4 - incessant, profusion, abiding, compulsion, discernment
• Chapter 5 through 24 (14 words):
5 - aspiring
14 - amenable
17 - unremitting, adversity, deportment, petulant, placidly
18 - hovel, entailed
20 - guttural
23 - secular, askance, piety, apoplectic
• Chapter 25 through 45 (17 words):
25 - depravity
33 - sullenly, plausible
38 - dyspeptic
41 - protruded
43 - preceding, carrion, diligent, indiscriminate, aversion
45 - imperceptible, bask, remonstrations, revulsion, empathy,
callous, amicably
• Chapter 46 through 53 (17 words):
46 - chromatic, incongruously, dilated, formidable, forlorn,
coherence, ineffectually, invigorating
49 - conundrum, insouciant
50 - dire
51 - supplication
53 - lucidity, oppressive, poignancy, rufous, voraciously
• Chapter 54 through 70 (18 words):
54 - erratic, attrition
55 - radical
56 - unerring
58 - cryptic, injunction, gastronomic
60 - throe
61 - sentient, sanguinary
62 - lethargic, marred
63 - putrid, fitful
64 - disfiguring
67 - multitude, gelatinous
70 - forbearance
• Chapter 71 through 99 (18 words):
71 - afflicting, pivotal
72 - ordnance
74 - consecrated
79 - incongruously
81 - sustenance
89 - emaciated
90 - infernal, obtuse, conjures
91 - amply
92 - delusion, olfactory, desalinated, rote, turmoil
99 - feral, reprieve
Life of Pi Reading Questions
Chapters 1-2
1. How does the three-toed sloth survive?
2. Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics
to nonhumans. Find 3 examples of anthropomorphism on pp 4-5.
3. Identify and explain 3-4 examples of imagery, figurative
language on pp.6-7.
4. In chapter 2, in italics, who is the narrator and who is the
subject?
Chapters 3-5
5. Describe how Pi comes to be named after a French swimming
pool.
6. Pi does not agree with people who “think animals in the wild
are ‘happy’ because they are ‘free’” (ch. 4, p. 15), why?
7. Describe how and why Piscine Molitor Patel becomes Pi.
8. Pi writes his name on the blackboard with every teacher
during the day. He says that “repetition is important in the
training not only of animals but also of humans” (ch.5, p.23).
Explain.
SAT #6 Vocabulary (quiz Thursday, 12/13/07)
Acuity-keenness
Obscured-hidden
Acrid-bitter
Cynical-a person who believes that only selfishness motivates human
actions and who disbelieves in or minimizes selfless acts or
disinterested points of view.
Epistle-letter
Poised-held in equilibrium
Languid-weak
Heresy-a belief that rejects the conventional beliefs of a religion
Lance-to cut with a small surgical instrument
Resplendent-having great beauty and splendor
Poignant-profoundly moving; touching
Respite-a usually short interval of rest or relief
Terse-brief and to the point
Therapeutic-having or exhibiting healing powers
Acrophobia-an abnormal fear of heights
Bourgeois- person whose attitudes and behavior are marked by
conformity to the standards and conventions of the middle class
Debility- state of being weak or feeble
Epistolary- composed of letters
Hiatus- an interruption in the intensity or amount of something |
