All Quiet on the Western Front Patriotism Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #10

It is strange to see these enemies of ours so close up. They have faces that make one think – honest peasant faces, broad foreheads, broad noses, broad mouths, broad hands, and thick hair.

They ought to be put to threshing, reaping, and apple-picking. They look just as kindly as our own peasants in Friesland. (8.11-12)

The more the soldiers find connections and a sense of humanity in their enemies, the harder it is for them to endure the war. Again, nature and farming imagery comes up in this moment. The French soldiers don't look like killers – they look like cultivators of the earth, people who bring about life, not death.