European Identity In Paul Valéry's The Crisis Of The Mind

Imagine a world where trees are lying everywhere; there are craters in the earth as larges as busses and corpses of men lying everywhere. This is a world the past generation experienced. This is World War I. Remarque portrays the technological and military innovations in All Quiet on the Western Front as horrific, in the ways of creating mass casualties, causing psychological problems in the soldiers, and destroying nature. The technological and military innovations that remarque portrays creates mass casualties.

“Every thought and event caused by the outbreak of the war came as a bitter and a mortal blow struck against the great conviction that was in my heart: the concept of permanent progress, of movement towards even greater happiness” (Englund, 46.) The outbreak of the war evoked a new society and drastically changed the participants’ lives. The beginning of the war was a bitter blow towards society and most participants within the entries were not pleased with the outbreak; it evoked responses and accelerated changes in each society represented. Happiness and progress are common themes within the entries. The continuation of their happiness would change and the progress of society is evident.

During the turn of the twentieth century a powerful fervor prevailed throughout Europe. Industrialization boomed, and nations soared to a brand new level of success never seen before. This aura of new achievements and new ideas kindled a nationalist flair among citizens and their countries. Whether it be from successes of the state, or the unification of a common culture despite existing political boundaries, the people experienced a new and thrilling sensation of identity. Such a flame unleashed rebellious sparks, igniting the “powder keg” of Europe, launching the Great War.

In June of 1924, the four-year terror of WWI began, a period of time marked by trench warfare, new Maxim guns, and the aimless massacre of millions. Sparked by deep tensions around the world, the war was fought between two main sides: the Allies and the Central Powers. After years of stalemate, a series of events, including the Russian Revolution and entrance of America into the war, finally brought the genocide to a stop. The Treaty of Versailles was passed, and countries set their eyes on rebuilding- unaware of new issues caused by the war that had just concluded. Moreover, although the Central Powers had finally been subdued by the Allies, “The Age of Anxiety” is a fitting title for the period that followed, which was marked by the global

Jayden Isabella Mrs.Berry English 3.1 9 March 2023 In All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque uses powerful symbols to illustrate the effects of war on the human mind and to convey the universal themes of beauty, and destruction to convey the emotional and psychological impact of war on individuals and society. Showing that war is always destructive for both the “winners and losers”. In All Quiet on the Western Front, the first-person point of view focuses on the true perspective of war & creates a deeper impact on the reader.

We’ve all had that moment when we said, “I want to visit Europe,” or, “European culture is different, I would love to see it.” Now imagine yourself roughly 125 years before now. Now, imagine that you are living in Africa. Would you still think about moving to Europe? Would you know what Europe is?

In the late 1800s, Europe was scrambling to conquer vast amounts of land. Imperialism had swept the continent by storm, with many countries vying for pieces of Africa and Asia to control. From 1880 to 1900, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy fought for African possessions and by 1900, nearly the whole continent had been split and placed under European rule. There was plenty of motivation for Europeans to conquer the world, and while some supported it, others didn’t. Most people in Europe at this time held ethnocentric views toward the “uncivilized” cultures in the world.

Schallmayer makes the argument that some races are just better than others, and that decades of non-European races losing in competition to Europeans just proves European superiority (Doc 6). However, this document should also be applied to other European nations because Germany was a particularly extreme center for racism. To prove this point, a British viewpoint reveals a less strained opinion on the subject. The Earl of Cromer’s memoir provides a positive outlook on the Egyptians ability to learn, but he still upholds his condescending European perspective, by stating that Egyptians would not have the ability to learn if it wasn’t for the British (Doc 7). The document must be examined with caution due to it being an excerpt from a published memoir which indicates time passing, thus making it a possible exaggeration to bring forth literature as a symbol of European nationalism.

In her article,”Hearing the Lost Sounds of Antiquity”, journalist Adrienne LaFrance effectively uses all of the rhetorical elements in order to appeal to her audience in a specific way. LaFrance applies these elements to thoroughly explain the importance of a complicated discovery about recreating lost sounds. Even though this is an informative article, part of Adrienne LaFrance’s purpose is to intrigue readers and convince them that they are reading something worthwhile. LaFrance effectively reaches her intended purpose, mainly by keeping a balance between information and emotion, logos and pathos.

However, those who lived through this dark time 19th century were not quick to object to much of the “civilizing” that was occurring, infact many were for it. The Belgians, had imagined a culture of “foreign animals” that was so deeply ingrained in their colonial

War is a harsh reality that is inflicted upon the unwilling through the “need” of it’s predecessors and those whom wish it. All Quiet on The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is about 19 year old Paul and his friends in the “Second Company”. Even though they are just out of school age, they have already seen things that many could not bear to even think about. Eventually, all of his friends die, and even Paul too, dies. Remarque uses diction and syntax as literary devices to express his anti-war theme, or lesson.

Next is an excerpt from Raymond Aron, a French philosopher, sociologist, journalist, and political scientist who published The Century of Total War in 1954 (Document

Erich Maria Remarque, a World War I veteran, took his own personal war experience to paper, which resulted in one of the most critically acclaimed anti-war movement novels of all time, All Quiet on the Western Front. The voice of the novel, Paul Baumer, describes his daily life as a soldier during the First World War. Through the characters he creates in the novel, Remarque addresses his own issues with the war. Specifically, Remarque brings to light the idea of the “Iron Youth,” the living conditions in the trenches, and the sense of detachment soldiers feel, among other things. Therefore, All Quiet on the Western Front criticizes the sense of nationalism, which war tends to create among citizens by quickly diminishing any belief regarding it as a glorious and courageous act.

What they called barbarians remained “alive and vigorous [to] their genuine, their most useful and natural, virtues and properties” whereas the Europeans have damaged their way of living “to gratify [their] corrupted taste” (2515). Using an analogy of a wild fruit, Montagne argues that there is still excellence in the cannibals since their “savor and delicacy [remain] quite excellent, even to [their] state” (2515). Moreover, the French “have so overloaded the beauty and richness of [mother Nature] by [their] inventions that [they] have quite smothered her” (2515). Nevertheless, through the barbarians, mother Nature makes “her purity shines forth”, putting “wonderfully to shame [their]vain and frivolous attempts (92515) and inventions. Montaigne only think of the nation as barbarian since ‘they have been fashioned very little by the human mind” (92515) and that’s beautiful in its own way.

Samuel calls an imposition of Western values, “in the emerging world of ethnic conflict and civilizational clash, Western : belief in the universality of Western culture suffers three problems: it is false; it is immoral; and it is dangerous” (Huntington 1996: 21). Modernization will be a powerful tool to build the socio-economic, political and military power of non-Western civilizations, but the instruments of modernization should be used toward peaceful and multicultural aims. Achieving these aims will benefit the citizens of the world and avoid a cultural clash of civilizations.and continued cooperative efforts. This cooperative approach has been largely successful for the European Union. The Cold War era effectively divided the world into three distinct camps: United States/Europe/Western Democratic, USSR/Communist, and Third World.