be a part of the book just to show how young Robert was and how he tried to fit in.9Paul’s description of the graveyard scene seems to be symbolic and also a very thorough description. Near the end of the book the allied forces attacked a graveyard in which Germans were passing through. This was right before Paul got trapped in the trench where he killed the soldier from the opposing side. In one instance of that scene Paul says, “I am fighting a crazy confused battle. I want to get out of my hollow in the ground but I keep on slipping back in.” Paul is just describing what the trench seems like and what is going on around him and to follow that he also says, “The machine guns are rattling away. I know that barbed wire entanglements are firm and pretty well undamaged … They aren’t getting through. They’ll have to turn back.” Paul mainly describes the things going on around him in the war, such as the artillery, barbed wires, and the soldiers. Robert’s portrayal of the war was quite imaginable. 10In one part of the book Robert and his men are on their way to a meeting point with their horses. Robert took a wrong turn and went through a dike. A dike is like quick sand filled with gases. Robert noticed the smell of chlorine and phosgene. “What is that smell” he asked Poole. “Prob’ly chlorine” Poole replied. 11The use of chlorine gas was really used mainly by the Germans and it was the first time the use of gas at such a large scale was used. Robert also described the men he and Poole were stuck with in the trench. 12One man, Devlin, said he was an artist. He went through the war collecting stained glass from churches, and portraits of Jesus and the Virgin Mary. Another man had kept rabbits, birds, hedgehogs, and toads. Robert made it seem as though these men were crazy. He also described the amount of deaths, which occur during a few battles. 13The first ni...
