World War One was said to be “the war to end all wars,” little did the people know that that was going to be proven wrong 19 later. The perception of war was clearly misstated to new recruits. Both protagonists in both books thought the war was just a time to prove yourself and fight for your country, little did they know that the point of them being in the war was to teach them how to stay alive. Paul Baumer, the protagonist in “All Quiet on the Western Front,” got use to the war and his comrades better then Robert Ross, the protagonist in “The Wars,” did. The narrators of both books describe the war ground quite vividly and quite similarly. Receiving a misconception of war was exactly what Paul Baumer and Robert Ross had received before enlisting into the army. 1Paul’s teacher lectured the students in Paul’s class about enlisting into the German army. He gives the students a long speech about how they shouldn’t be learning, they should be out in the trenches fighting for their country. What he fails to do is teach the students about the down side of fighting for your country. Once Paul enlists into the army and is out there on the front, Katczinsky tells him that in the war they are not fighting for their country, but fighting to stay alive. His teacher also failed to tell them of how they would feel when they killed another human being. When Paul landed in a trench and a soldier from the opposing side had fallen into the trench with him, Paul did not hesitate to stab the man. After he had stayed in the trench with the half-dead soldier, Paul made promises to the soldier. 2“Comrade, I did not want to kill you ... You were only an idea to me before, an abstraction that lived in my mind and called forth its appropriate response. It was that abstraction I stabbed ... Forgive me, comrade. We always see it too late. Why do they never tell us that you are poor devils like us&...
