“For us lads of eighteen they ought to have been mediators and guides to the world of maturity, the world of work, of duty, of culture, of progress-to the future. We often made fun of them and played jokes on them, but in our hearts we trusted them. The idea of authority, which they represented, was associated in our minds with a greater insight and a more humane wisdom. But the first death we saw shattered this belief. We had to recognize that our generation was more to be trusted than theirs. They surpassed us only in phrases and in cleverness. The first bombardment showed us our mistake, and under it the world as they had taught it to us broke into pieces.” (12-13)
In every society the culture and ideas of that society are passed down to the younger generations. Teachers in schools and everything the youths are involved in changes or structures how the youths will think later in life. The society does this either subconsciously or not subconsciously. The training and schooling of the youths is very important to a society because the youths are what will continue their legacy when they are gone and take their country father into the future causing it to be a pretty important task to teach the younger generations lessons.
The quote above from All Quiet on the Western Front is an example of how countries or societies will influence their youth. The quote shows that the youths in this particular case are only at war because they were influenced by their society and teachers. In a larger view this could mean that all youths or people really go to war for their country or do things for their country because from birth they have been influenced by there societies. The idea of societies influence has been widely spread by Pink Floyd in the song “Another Brick in the Wall”, which means that everything a society does just adds another brick to the wall separating you from who you really could be. Teachers play a big role because they are the ones that actually do the teaching. The idea then would mean that all war is caused by the influence an older generation had on a younger one and that all wars are fought by people, who have been influenced by there societies to do so. In both of these cases the people may have not made the decisions they have made if they were not influenced by their societies. War can be caused by societies influence on its people.
The quote is important to the book because it is what causes the young group of men to join the war. Mr. Kentorek was their teacher and had influenced them to join the war but once they get there they realize everything they had learned didn’t matter anymore and that it was all was false to what they thought. The quote allows there to actually be a story because if the teachers and the society of the boys hadn’t influenced them they would never have gone to war. But their wall was shattered the minute they got to the war. Societies influence on the characters of the book led to them ultimately joining the war.
The quote explains societies influence on its youth. It shows how the book was able to take place as well as gives a good example of why wars may be fought.
Literature of War STC 