Himmelstoss is not exactly a dominant or significant character to the novel's narrative, but in this mid-section of the novel, he reveals a very important mentality of war. Explain.
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Even though Himmelstoss may not be regarded as a dominant or significant character to the novel's narrative, without a doubt, in this portion of "All Quiet on the Western Front," he plays a major role in exposing a critical mentality of war. Epitomizing the concept of evil, Himmelstoss is a man who is despised by the younger soldiers in the German army. Unfortunately for the new recruits, Himmelstoss is someone they fear, more than death itself. Before entering the war, Himmelstoss had acquired the position of a mailman, who evidently, sustained no authority or superiority over the people in his community. However, once he enlisted in the German Army and became a Corporal, he began to transform into a much more power-hungry individual. Perhaps, he behaved in such a strict manner, for not only was he exposed to such a tremendous amount of animosity and gore on a daily basis, but he knew that in order to survive in such harsh conditions, it is vital for a man to sustain dominant characteristics. By declaring himself as a superior being in comparison to the other soldiers, Himmelstoss could then show the other men that he was the manifestation of perfection, when it came to obtaining control over the others. In the eyes of this vicious corporal, if a person wishes to overcome the brutalities associated with war and survive to see another day, then serving as both an intimidator and a tormentor, such as himself, will help a soldier escape from the savage reality which he is very much apart of.
Himmelstoss is not exactly a dominant or significant character to the novel’s narrative. However, in the mid-section of the novel he reveals a very important mentality of the war. Originally Himmelstoss is seen disliked by his soldiers because he was a cruel drill sergeant who had weird methods of teaching people lessons. One being that he placed the two bed wetters in the company under the same bunk as each other. Though strangely Himmelstoss was not always seen to be so cruel and evil. Apparently he was a postman before the war and it is said that he must have been a different kind of man. So, by this it is suggesting that his rank and authority has changed him into the man he is. By this it is saying that when given power one will easily jump to use it accordingly to it’s fullest. And like Manvir said, perhaps he is using this power for survival. But I think that because he was a mailman before the war he most likely did not have any authority or respect from others so that now he’s corporal he has too easily become accustomed to the authority and the regulations involved. And in these last few chapters it shows this because he goes to the very men that despise him to seek trouble and by using his authority he attempts to beat them. However, his efforts are unsuccessful because he received no respect for his position in the army, which leaves him storming off in rage. And also later it shows Himmelstoss on the frontlines with Paul, and like any other new recruit he was cowering behind in the trench. But as a superior officer comes along with a rank higher than his own, he immediately springs to life as if nothing happened. This shows how he is willing to do whatever it takes to retain his rank in the army even if it means perhaps getting killed. By this I find it quite comical because this would make him hypocritical to his own teachings, where he would brutally train and prepare his soldiers but would be unable to handle it himself. He is more concerned about his position in the war than the reality of it.
This mid-section of "All Quiet on the Western Front" delved deeper into the unique person that is Corporal Himmelstoss. Himmelstoss, who is a superior officer to Paul Baumer and his comrades, is disliked by most. Though he is not a crucial figure in this story - rather, he is a minor character - Himmelstoss encompasses certain features which go to show the different mentalities present during a war. Being a power-hungry and often cruel man, Himmelstoss takes his anger out on Baumer and friends. Himmelstoss abuses his rank and thus makes things harder for Paul Baumer and his comrades. It is arguable that he is simply being a good leader and controlling the men he is meant to control, but Himmelstoss takes it to an unjustifiable and angering level. As Manvir and Robin have mentioned, Himmelstoss is a man determined to hold or better his rank in the army, by whatever means necessary. Alienating his own men is simply another step for Himmelstoss to attain absolute power over his men, a power he never held in peace time when he was a mailman. When Tjaden displayed insubordinate behaviour towards Himmelstoss, the Corporal used this as a chance to get his own man in trouble. Instead of working to please his men and gain their trust so as to become a better fighting unit, Himmelstoss meant to abuse his power once more and punish the man who did not acknowledge his superiority. As this section of the story progressed, it became more apparent that Himmelstoss is a man with several different façades, adapting his behaviour to particular circumstances. During the massive bombardment that took place, Himmelstoss at one point was described as cowering in the trenches. Crunched up in the fetal position, Himmelstoss was more like a new recruit than a Corporal who led men. For all the abuse and drilling he put his men through, Himmelstoss seemed to have learned absolutely nothing himself. I can understand his fear and desire to stay alive, but it is quite hypocritical of him to do something he so adamantly teaches as being wrong. It took the arrival of one of Himmelstoss' superior officers to shake him out of his trance, once again displaying that his number one priority is simply to look good to his superiors and hold his empowering rank. Hypocritical, two-sided, unfair, and selfish behaviour is all understandable in a war - because the ultimate goal is to survive - but for someone who is supposed to be a leader of men this is not acceptable. How is an army supposed to function successfully if it's leaders can not even take care of themselves? It can't.
Himmelstoss is not exactly a dominant or significant character to the novel's narrative,but he reveals a very important mentality, because he is an another victim of savagery that war creates. To the reader, the soldiers work as a big group and care about each ohter as a big family, but Himmelstoss reveals the human's selfish and savage side when he is given military authority. He becomes a mean bully, who does not respect the soldiers' feelings for dealing with the horror of the war and becomes just a common citizen like all the other soldiers afterall. He changes completely once he is given the power to control the soldiers. Due to his military authority, he is very cruel to his recruits. For example, Tjaden and Kindervater wet their bed. Himmestoss's cure for this problem was to making Tjaden share a same bunk with Kindevater. This is extremely mean and insulting because the reason the soldiers wet their beds was due to a medical condition, and the terrible conditions that they have to live in. After timeless training and fighting, he made the two soldiers share the a bunk, not only was this disrespectful to the soldiers, but also unfair. Every soldier doesn't like Himmeltoss because he is the meanest person. He represents the most self-centered mind of humanity. He gets mad whenever the soldiers disobeys him, such as the time when Tjaden refused to stand up when he ordered him to. Then all Himmeltoss could think about was to find Tjaden and punish him. He is so obsessed by his given power, he ingnored why and what he is suppose to do with his power. He is too drunk with his power of ordering the soldiers around when he is suppose to make the soldiers stronger and more organized. Therefore Himmelstoss reveals a very important mentality of war, because he lost his old innocent self, and showed that war could reveal the hunger of power possessed by every common human.
4 comments:
Even though Himmelstoss may not be regarded as a dominant or significant character to the novel's narrative, without a doubt, in this portion of "All Quiet on the Western Front," he plays a major role in exposing a critical mentality of war. Epitomizing the concept of evil, Himmelstoss is a man who is despised by the younger soldiers in the German army. Unfortunately for the new recruits, Himmelstoss is someone they fear, more than death itself. Before entering the war, Himmelstoss had acquired the position of a mailman, who evidently, sustained no authority or superiority over the people in his community. However, once he enlisted in the German Army and became a Corporal, he began to transform into a much more power-hungry individual. Perhaps, he behaved in such a strict manner, for not only was he exposed to such a tremendous amount of animosity and gore on a daily basis, but he knew that in order to survive in such harsh conditions, it is vital for a man to sustain dominant characteristics. By declaring himself as a superior being in comparison to the other soldiers, Himmelstoss could then show the other men that he was the manifestation of perfection, when it came to obtaining control over the others. In the eyes of this vicious corporal, if a person wishes to overcome the brutalities associated with war and survive to see another day, then serving as both an intimidator and a tormentor, such as himself, will help a soldier escape from the savage reality which he is very much apart of.
Himmelstoss is not exactly a dominant or significant character to the novel’s narrative. However, in the mid-section of the novel he reveals a very important mentality of the war. Originally Himmelstoss is seen disliked by his soldiers because he was a cruel drill sergeant who had weird methods of teaching people lessons. One being that he placed the two bed wetters in the company under the same bunk as each other. Though strangely Himmelstoss was not always seen to be so cruel and evil. Apparently he was a postman before the war and it is said that he must have been a different kind of man. So, by this it is suggesting that his rank and authority has changed him into the man he is. By this it is saying that when given power one will easily jump to use it accordingly to it’s fullest. And like Manvir said, perhaps he is using this power for survival. But I think that because he was a mailman before the war he most likely did not have any authority or respect from others so that now he’s corporal he has too easily become accustomed to the authority and the regulations involved. And in these last few chapters it shows this because he goes to the very men that despise him to seek trouble and by using his authority he attempts to beat them. However, his efforts are unsuccessful because he received no respect for his position in the army, which leaves him storming off in rage. And also later it shows Himmelstoss on the frontlines with Paul, and like any other new recruit he was cowering behind in the trench. But as a superior officer comes along with a rank higher than his own, he immediately springs to life as if nothing happened. This shows how he is willing to do whatever it takes to retain his rank in the army even if it means perhaps getting killed. By this I find it quite comical because this would make him hypocritical to his own teachings, where he would brutally train and prepare his soldiers but would be unable to handle it himself. He is more concerned about his position in the war than the reality of it.
This mid-section of "All Quiet on the Western Front" delved deeper into the unique person that is Corporal Himmelstoss. Himmelstoss, who is a superior officer to Paul Baumer and his comrades, is disliked by most. Though he is not a crucial figure in this story - rather, he is a minor character - Himmelstoss encompasses certain features which go to show the different mentalities present during a war. Being a power-hungry and often cruel man, Himmelstoss takes his anger out on Baumer and friends. Himmelstoss abuses his rank and thus makes things harder for Paul Baumer and his comrades. It is arguable that he is simply being a good leader and controlling the men he is meant to control, but Himmelstoss takes it to an unjustifiable and angering level. As Manvir and Robin have mentioned, Himmelstoss is a man determined to hold or better his rank in the army, by whatever means necessary. Alienating his own men is simply another step for Himmelstoss to attain absolute power over his men, a power he never held in peace time when he was a mailman. When Tjaden displayed insubordinate behaviour towards Himmelstoss, the Corporal used this as a chance to get his own man in trouble. Instead of working to please his men and gain their trust so as to become a better fighting unit, Himmelstoss meant to abuse his power once more and punish the man who did not acknowledge his superiority. As this section of the story progressed, it became more apparent that Himmelstoss is a man with several different façades, adapting his behaviour to particular circumstances. During the massive bombardment that took place, Himmelstoss at one point was described as cowering in the trenches. Crunched up in the fetal position, Himmelstoss was more like a new recruit than a Corporal who led men. For all the abuse and drilling he put his men through, Himmelstoss seemed to have learned absolutely nothing himself. I can understand his fear and desire to stay alive, but it is quite hypocritical of him to do something he so adamantly teaches as being wrong. It took the arrival of one of Himmelstoss' superior officers to shake him out of his trance, once again displaying that his number one priority is simply to look good to his superiors and hold his empowering rank. Hypocritical, two-sided, unfair, and selfish behaviour is all understandable in a war - because the ultimate goal is to survive - but for someone who is supposed to be a leader of men this is not acceptable. How is an army supposed to function successfully if it's leaders can not even take care of themselves? It can't.
Himmelstoss is not exactly a dominant or significant character to the novel's narrative,but he reveals a very important mentality, because he is an another victim of savagery that war creates. To the reader, the soldiers work as a big group and care about each ohter as a big family, but Himmelstoss reveals the human's selfish and savage side when he is given military authority. He becomes a mean bully, who does not respect the soldiers' feelings for dealing with the horror of the war and becomes just a common citizen like all the other soldiers afterall. He changes completely once he is given the power to control the soldiers. Due to his military authority, he is very cruel to his recruits. For example, Tjaden and Kindervater wet their bed. Himmestoss's cure for this problem was to making Tjaden share a same bunk with Kindevater. This is extremely mean and insulting because the reason the soldiers wet their beds was due to a medical condition, and the terrible conditions that they have to live in. After timeless training and fighting, he made the two soldiers share the a bunk, not only was this disrespectful to the soldiers, but also unfair. Every soldier doesn't like Himmeltoss because he is the meanest person. He represents the most self-centered mind of humanity. He gets mad whenever the soldiers disobeys him, such as the time when Tjaden refused to stand up when he ordered him to. Then all Himmeltoss could think about was to find Tjaden and punish him. He is so obsessed by his given power, he ingnored why and what he is suppose to do with his power. He is too drunk with his power of ordering the soldiers around when he is suppose to make the soldiers stronger and more organized. Therefore Himmelstoss reveals a very important mentality of war, because he lost his old innocent self, and showed that war could reveal the hunger of power possessed by every common human.
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