Lost in Thought

In Chapter 6, Paul daydreams about his home. The specific things that he recalls are how as a child he and his friends would go to hang out by a stream and admire the old poplars, the pure fragrance of the water, and the melody of the wind. Also Paul daydreams about a summer evening where he was in the cathedral cloister. He was able to remember the soothing warmth of the sun, and experience the bewildering emotions of love. These memories form a calm sensation for Paul and allow him to escape the horrific reality for a while. Just as he said, “the image is alarmingly near; it touches me before it dissolves in the light of the nest starshell” (Page119). In this chapter Paul is so focused on the harshness of battle that the only thing there to alleviate his grief is past memories. He doesn’t know what to look forward to and can only base his future on his past. For instance, “I stand there and wonder whether, when I am twenty, I shall have experienced the bewildering emotions of love” (Page 119). Paul is trying to revive his happy memories in order to cloud over what’s really causing his pain, but really his happy memories just “ignite the flame.”

Paul’s reflections in Chapter 6, is that memories of the past come to him. The calm and quiet memories bring sorrow rather than desire. He considers that desires belong to another world that is far from the one he is living in. He claims that his youth is lost and that he has become permanently numb and indifferent. Paul says that he and his friends are lost because they are just children who have the experiences of old men. They didn’t have the chance to really grow up and live a normal life. Paul feels that this opportunity is lost and that there is no going back. Not only that, but Paul is also affected by what’s going on in battle. For example, the German soldiers discovered their own men had been tortured before dying, eyes cut out and noses cut off. They were then smothered with sawdust stuffed into their noses and...