"The Wrld at War in the 2th Century"

Resources

All Quiet On the Western Front Web Page                      Essays on Remarque and his works

WWI historical site with posters, etc                                WWI: Trenches on the web

Lost poets of the Great War                                              WWI Soldier's Diary

Links to the Great War web sites                                    Tribute, Links and Pictures of WWI

Projects: 

Integrated English/World History Radio Broadcast

All Quiet on the Western Front Journal Project

Internet Research Journals: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6

Pen Pal exchange with Veterans of Foreign Wars

All Quiet on the Western Front

Erich Maria Remarque

Concepts for Study: (define each of the following)

Irony        Point of View        Metaphor        Tone

Humor        Foreshadowing       Symbolism

Themes: 

The destructiveness of war

The Lost Generation

Camaraderie

Shared Humanity

The Corrupting Effect of Power

You will be asked to take careful notes on the key concepts, characters and themes of the novel.  At the end of the novel, you will post these notes on your websites; these notes will become an electronic portfolio analyzing the novel.  You should include links to the most useful websites you found while completing the unit, and you may organize and decorate your web page to create an interesting visual presentation.

35 points

Due: 

 Chapters 1-2 Vocabulary:

haricot: a type of bean        voracity: huge appetite        quid: a wad of something chewable

peat: decayed soil                queue: a line of people        trundles: moves on wheels

pithily: concisely                  ostracized: exiled; excluded         

unimpeachably: incapable of being criticized    

misere ouverte: a play in the popular German card game of skat.

obliterate: blot out            immaterial: unimportant        renunciation: giving up

pettifogging: cheating    discomfiture: frustration        convalescent: recovering after illness

gangrene: decay of tissue as a result of injury            Schopenhauer: German philosopher

espirit de corps: sense of pride shared by the members of a group

Vocabulary Chapters 3-4:

concord: agreement    sallow: sickly, yellowish complexion      indefatigable: untiring  

remonstrance: complaint            lorries: trucks                    aspirants: those yearning for something

acrid: bitter; stinging                vortex: whirlpool                indigent: poor

Tommies: slang term for English soldiers

 

Homework: Read Chapters 3 and 4.  Complete  study guide questions 3-4 for class discussion

 Journal #1

Use the links at the top of the page to help you answer the following questions:

1.  What were the underlying causes of WWI?

2.  What was the specific cause of WWI?

3.  How did the soldiers react as they went off to war? Why?

 

Homework: Read Chapters 5 and 6.  Complete  study guide questions 5-6 for class discussion

Vocabulary: Chapters 5-7

insubordination: disobedience     parapet: protective wall    disabuse: rid of false ideas

automata: creatures who act in an unthinking, mechanical way.

foraging: searching for food        quixotic: extremely idealistic    billets: sleeping quarters

apoplexy: paralysis; stroke        tremulous: trembling                    laudable: praiseworthy

La guerre--grand malheur--pauvres garcons-- French: The war--great misfortunes--poor boys

Froggies: slang term for the French    aller: French verb "to go"

C.O.: Commanding Officer

 Journal #2: Go onto the internet and find facts on:

WWI military training camps

Mustard Gas

(Use WWI: Trenches on the Web)

Small group discussion: Discuss how accurate Remarque's descriptions of these events are: copy 5 descriptions of battle scenes from the novel and compare/contrast with historical and primary source accounts from the Internet. 

 Journal #3: On the internet, briefly research life inside the trenches; evaluate what type of life these soldiers lived.

Discuss chapters 5-6: share research on primary source accounts of life in the trenches

:Journal #4: Describe the circumstance in a film or book you are familiar with in which a frightening or unpleasant situation made a character feel closer to a friend.

Discuss chapters 7-8: Camaraderie, Shared Humanity, and the Lost Generation

  Watch video of "the bowl scene." Discuss theme of Shared Humanity

Vocabulary: chapters 8-10

opalescent: colorful and shiny        dysentery: intestinal disease        furtively: sneakily

abyss: bottomless pit                       stratagem: plan; trick                eiderdowns: feather stuffed quilts

fastidious: difficult to please          chattels: personal property      baldaquin: canopy over a throne or altar

perambulators: baby carriages        Goethe: German poet and dramatist (1749-1832)

 Chapters 11-12 Vocabulary:

superficiality: shallow insignificance    Bushmen: a nomadic people of southern Africa

dissolution: breaking up            rapt: completely absorbed        aberration: a departure from the normal

bequeathed: handed down        flotillas: small fleets                niggardliness: stinginess

insensate: unfeeling

 Journal #5: Find information on the Internet that discusses prison camps during WWI.  Describe the conditions of the camps.  Use freighting, telescoping, and splitting the second strategies so that you "show," not "tell." (My homage to Mrs. Don't Eatthepaste of your 5th grade experience.)

Discuss Chapters 9-10

May  : In class expository essay:  You will be given a quote from chapter 7 or 8 and you will have the class period to complete an essay.  After the unit is over, you will have the option to revise this essay or another timed writing piece to turn in for a major grade (100 points).

May : Journal #6: On the Internet, read  diary entries of soldiers speaking about the end of the war.  Compare and contrast what they had to say at the beginning of their war experiences and at the end.

Resource: The Doughboy Center

Discuss study guide questions chapters 11-12

May 13: Review themes, characters, and literary devices in the work

: All Quiet on the Western Front Test

Work on Radio presentations

 In-class expository essay.

 All Quiet on the Western Front Journal Project:

Read some diary entries of soldiers speaking about the end of the war.  Create a persona who writes  5 journal entries during the war. The information you use in these journals should be taken from primary source essays/journals you have found on the internet. Make the journals interactive by creating links to the primary source material, as well as historical information on the internet.

You will be graded on:

1. 5 creative, narrative journals that are at least 3/4's of a page long. (The journal's may cover why you enlisted or joined the draft, what training was like, war experiences, a return home, etc.)

2. The voice and style of the persona (soldier, nurse, aviator, etc.) you adopt to create the journal.

3. The relevancy of the links you create within the journal. (To pictures that show where your persona is fighting, war maps, propaganda that made you want to fight.

The journals should be uploaded by Tuesday, May 21nd. (50 points)

If you have had correspondence with any veterans, please post your email messages under the heading: A Veteran's Reflections (20 points EC)

Resource: The Doughboy Center

All Quiet on the Western Front Study Guide Questions

Chapters 1-2

1. What is the setting of the story?

2. What does Paul say about men like Kantorek?

3. What did the first bombardment and the first killing do to Paul's faith in the adult world?

4. Is this story necessarily just about Germans?

5. What is the mood or atmosphere of the story?

6. What is one theme of the story so far?

7. What does the theft of Kemmerich's watch represent?

Chapter 2:

1. Why does Paul's generation feel that it is a wasteland?

2. What kind of person is Himmlestoss?

3. What have been two important results of Paul's military training?

4. What is the significance of Kemmerich's death scene?

5. What is the irony in the comment, "We are the Iron youth?"

6. What kind of character is Paul?

Chapters 3-4

Chapter 3

1. For what does Katzcinsky have a reputation?

2. How does Kropp think wars should be fought?

3. What were Himmelstoss's drill exercises?

4. What had been Himmelstoss's profession before the war?

5. What does Kropp say happens to little men like Himmelstoss when they get stars or stripes?

6. What reason does Kropp give for officers' making drill exercises so difficult?

Chapter 4:

1. What is the importance of the "earth to a soldier?"

2. What influence does the front have on soldiers?

3. What two situations in battle serve a comic relief from the grim battle being waged?

4. What does the death of the horses represent?

5. What does the graveyard scene say about the value of human life?

6. Why is this such an important chapter in the novel?

Chapters 5-6

Chapter 5:

1. How does the first sentence tell us that the mood of the this chapter will be very different than that of the previous chapter?

2.  What do the following pan to do after the war is over:

     a. Kropp

     b. Detering

     c. Haie

3. What does Muller try to make them realize about their goals?

4. Why does Kropp feel that "The has ruined us for everything?"

5. How does Paul explain his close relationship with Kat?

Chapter 6:

1. How does the first paragraph of this chapter indicate that the mood of this chapter will be different than the previous one?

2. The front was referred to as a whirlpool.  What does Paul call it now?

3.  Why is "Chance" capitalized?

4. What does the incident about rats say about how man compares to the animals?

5. How do new recruits react to their first combat?

6. Paul longs for his youth, but what does he realize about it?

 Chapters 7-8

Chapter 7:

1. Baumer says the men become animals at the front.  What do they become when they rest?

2. What is Paul's attitude about those who die?

3. Why do the men make jokes?

4. How does Paul feel when he first enters his home?  When he talks to his mother?

5. How do his father's and mother's attitudes toward his fighting differ?

6. What does his room represent to Paul?

7. Who is Boettcher? Who was he?

8. What does Paul tell Kemmerich's mother?

9. Why is he willing to swear a lie?

10. Why does Paul regret having been on leave?

Chapter 8: 

1. What description in this chapter proves to Paul that he is no longer indifferent, but that he is sensitive?

2. Are the descriptions of the Russian prisoners sympathetic or unsympathetic?

3. According to Paul, how do the Russians seem different from the Germans?

4. According to Paul what has made these "silent figures" his enemies and what could make them his friends?

Chapters 9-10

Chapter 9:

1. What has changed about his regiment when Paul returns?

2. Why is Paul disappointed in the Kaiser?

3. What  do the men conclude about the causes of war?

4. What happens to Paul as he is out on patrol?

5. What thoughts does he have as he lies in the "bowl?"

6. How does Paul react differently to this killing than to the others?

7. What contrast does the author draw at the end of the chapter when  Paul returns to his lines?

Chapter 10:

1. What assignment are Paul and his comrades given?

2. What criticisms are made of the war-time medical practices?

3. Why does Paul say the war is a glorious time for surgeons?

4. How does the hospital show "what war is?"

5. To what is a soldier's knowledge of life limited?

Chapters 11-12

Chapters 11-12

1. Why does Tjaden eat fast?

2. What happened to Detering?

3. What is ironic about the factory owners in Germany?

4. What is the only thing the men have to look forward to?

6. How does Paul react to Kat's death?

7. Why is Paul no longer afraid?

8. What is the irony of the book's final sentence?