Below is the text for another of my favorite poems. This one speaks to the theme of people being enemies because of a word of command, instead of personal conflicts. Respond to this poem and relate it to both the book as well as any other war literature or movies. The Man He Killed ~Thomas Hardy "Had he and I but met By some old ancient inn, We should have sat us down to wet Right many a nipperkin! "But ranged as infantry, And staring face to face, I shot at him and he at me, And killed him in his place. "I shot him dead because – Because he was my foe, Just so – my foe of course he was; That's clear enough; although "He thought he'd 'list perhaps, Off-hand like – just as I – Was out of work – had sold his traps – No other reason why. "Yes; quaint and curious war is! You shoot a fellow down You'd treat if met where any bar is, Or help to half-a-crown."
Lit Terms 2
5 years ago
15 comments:
I believe this shows that the men who actually do the killing have no wish to do so. The are simply following orders of the few men who feel that they benifit from war. I think that when Paul said if a particular thirty men in the world would have said 'no' war never would have started he was right. This theme reoccurs when Paul kills Gérard Duval, a man whom he had no problems with, in an act of self preservation.
Cody C., 3rd Period
This poem shows how war puts people against other people that they've never even met. It states that if their leaders hadn't told them to fight, they could have been good friends. For example, when Paul stabs Gerard Duval, he didn't even consider the fact that Gerard was a human just like himself. When it did however hit him that this man was indeed a man, he began to really see how crazy it is that he's killing people who have never done anything to him personaly. This poem showed the side of war that we rarely think of.
Whitney S., 4th Period
Like we discussed in the beginning of All Quiet, you can only kill a man if you view him as an abstraction. To generalize and reduce the concept of 'a man just like me' makes it almost easier to kill someone.
What I think Thomas Hardy is saying in his poem is that they don't know why they're fighting each other. It's an order and orders must be followed.
In war it's you're put in a 'kill or be killed' situation. You have to put a bullet in him before he can put one in you. There is no time to sit down and chit chat with him before you decide whether or not you want to kill him.
-Yusra Siddiqui
4th block
I feel that this is true of any war in any given time period. He states that if he had met this man, the one he has just shot and killed, that he would probably have been great friends with if not commanded to be at war against him. In All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul severely injures another man and has to watch him die, which goes by very slowly. After the man dies Paul begins to see that this man is just the same as he. I am Anti-war, because of the sheer fact that leaders who know nothing can send men into a war just to injur or kill other men that are only following orders also. This poem, to me, also expresses an Anti-war statement.
Tara G., 3rd period
This poem tells how people will be put as "enemies" during a war for instance, but they really aren't enemies at all. For example, in "All Quiet", when the French man fell into the hole and Paul stabbed him, that was when Paul realized what he had been doing in the war. It was his wake-up call as to what was going on. He had to sit there with the man and watch him suffer and just think of what he had done. He had killed an innocent person who was labeled as his "enemy" because he was at war. They weren't even enemies, they were just people. Their countries were the real enemies.
Callie S., 4th Period
To me this poem explains the unawareness that people recive when going into war. They are oblivious to the man they hold at gun point. They dont know his story or the feelings that he has on war weither he's for it or against it. And if not in war they dont know if they would end up being best friends. And they will never find out just cause someone higher up then them tells them they're the enemy. But the person higher up doesn't know the fear or fellings the solider with the gun getting ready to take someones life feels. And I thin they simply dont care as long as they get the job done. And if you die sucks for you, you choose to go. And if you live you get a pat on the back. No one knew the casualties WWI would bring so no one could really choose if they wanted to stay or to go and do something "great" for your country.
-Sabrina B.
4th period
This poem shows that if these two men had met, they would be great fiends. Since they did no meet and they were told to kill eachother, they did. Just like Paul and his friends say in the book, Paul is enemies with the French because someone told him to not cuz he wanted to be.
Kylee R., 3rd Period
This really shows how, I think, alot of men felt back in WW1. The authoer goes to say that had they met anywhere else, they could've been friends; but because someone said so, they must kill eachother. It refers to that in All Quiet, and I think it's really interesting that men could fight so long and hard for something they don't even agree with. I think some men even today may feel like this in war. They enter war because their fathers or grandfathers did so, and they feel they should. Yet, they could have no idea what they're even fighting for. It's nice that the author here, as well as in All Quiet, would write something like that. It shows a side of these men that we don't usually know about.
-Kaitlyn P. 4th period
I love this poem how it describes that they are only killing the men because they were told to. It states that if they had met any other time are place they could have been great friends. It is the same in All Quiet on the Western Front; Paul starts to feel bad after he kills that man. He realizes that he has a family and a wife. Paul also said that he only hates the enemy because he is told to. He does not really know why he is fighting. I believe soldiers still feel the same today in the war going on now. They are only fighting to try to help the country or because their family has for years. Soldiers do not kill men because they want to, it is just their orders.
Mary Kathryn 3rd period
In this poem i believe that the author is trying to show that war puts people in situations where they have to kill people even if they do not know them, or have anything personal against them. I think he is also stating that he killed this man only because he was his enemy, just as paul did in All Quiet On The Western Front. The point i think that both authors are trying to make is that everyone is the same in a since that we are all people. In the poem i think that he's saying that it's just a man in a different color uniform, but it also says the same thing in the book.
Ali S., 4th Period
Until I had read the book and this poem, I never saw this perspective of war. In both the novel and the poem, the characters and narrators start to have similar thoughts. They realize that the enemies are people, just like them. Once they realize that they are all humans with feeling, thoughts, families, and etc., they began to see that the only reason that they are killig each other is because someone somewhere told them to. Once the order has been given, it seems like it's a matter of staying alive; it didn't depend on what side you were on. The poem says that the only reason he shot the man was because the other man was his foe. In the book, Paul says that the reason that he shot at the Russians was because he was told that they were the enemy. The poem states that the reason he shot the man was not because of personal reasons. In the novel, once Paul got to sit face to face with the person that he stabbed, who was dying, he made it personal. His thoughts stated that he didn't want the wounded man, even though he was supposed to be the enemy, to die. Once he made it personal, he had no reason to wish for the soldier's death. Even after the person died, he kept making it personal. I believe that since he made it that way, it was harder for him to keep going. I think that once soldiers make it personal, the vast majority of them don't have personal reasons to keep killing the people that are labeled as their "enemies". I believe that the media and people back at home help fuel the thought of enemies being an abstraction. Once you get in the middle of the fighting, though, it seems like your personal thoughts can separate you. It can open your eyes to how human the enemy is and how they might have been in the same situation as you. I think that war seems to, in a certain way, blind the soldiers. It blinds them from looking at the other side's soldiers as if they were fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, friends, role models to others, guardians, and etc. Instead, the ideals of war put a mask on the opposing side and makes them an abstraction. If the soldiers were to meet their enemies in some other setting, their first, initial thought would not be to kill them. This proves that, in most cases, there seems to be no personal reason for the killing that takes place in a war.
Becky H., 3rd Period
I think this poem shows how war can put people against eachother when really they are just the same. They all have lives of there own that they want to come back to after war. The only reason why they have to kill eachother is because they are own different sides. Paul realizes that when he ends up killing Gerard Duval. He felt like he had to do it since they were on different sides. After watching him suffer. Paul realizes that he was just like him, and had a family of his own. War shows that you have to be enimies with people you dont even know, and feel bad afterwards.
Jessica D., 4th period.
I think what this poem is about is the boys or men whichever age they are that go into wars who kill their enemy don't really want to. They don't really know who their enemy really is there for they have no desire to kill them. For all they know their enemy could be just like them but they live in another country and yet they're killing them just because their leader said to. Its truly a fight between rulers and not country men. Whenever Gérard Duval was killed by Paul he just thought on his feet and realized they are the same after the damage was done. When he found out what he did for a living and found his pictures. The war was no longer a battle field it had a face and a family. Most men who go into war don't realize they aren't killing the enemy they are killing people who are like them but still war is helpful to civilians in the country. Its a very tough subject about killing your enemy its really a judge of character by yourself. Thats probably why no mans land was useful in more ways then one. It gave a distance between the men so they don't see each other as people just as targets.
Jordan S.. 4th period
I think this shows how most people don't just go around killing people. They kill people they don't have any problems with because some person wanted fame. Both All Quiet and the poem talk about how they might have been friends if not for their governments.
Meghann B., 3rd Peiod
In my opinion it shows the true feeling men have against there "enemies". They believe that they are foes in each others eyes because they are told to do so. Influences from society lead them into a certain way of thinking going into to the war, but like Paul there views on another country soon become altered. Paul kills Gerald to save himself, and he never once tried to think out his problems. They are taught and trained to kill. If I were to teach a dog how to kill everyone that steps in the yard, then after a while he would begin to continue doing so just like the soldiers. In war it's either kill or be killed.
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