All Quiet On The Western Front, by Erich Marie Remarque, is a powerful book which tells of the war experiences of Paul Baumer, a nineteen-year-old soldier fighting in the German army in World War I. Paul's regiment, which includes many friends from his home town, undergoes grueling training, and then is moved up to the front line. Paul watches as the German army is defeated again and again, and his friends begin to die in battle, one by one. When Paul is granted a two-week leave from the army, he finds that he can no longer live comfortably at home. The war has ruined his life; the only place he truly belongs is with his regiment. After returning to the front he watches the last of his comrades die, leaving Paul Baumer the sole survivor. Paul's loneliness causes him to feel at peace when he himself is killed. The war report summed up that day in six simple words- All quiet on the western front.
             In Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage Henry Flemming, who has always dreamed of going to war, enlists in the Union Army during the Civil War. Henry joins a regiment and hears rumors of the great battle to come. When he and his regiment reach the battlefield, he is frightened by the noise and the horror of battle, and he runs in terror. Henry rationalizes his cowardice by saying that he surely would have been killed had he not run. He finally rejoins his regiment and goes forward and fights in battle for the first time. He fights bravely, and when a soldier begins to run away he holds the soldier back, asking why he was running. The cowardly soldier hits him in the head with the butt of his rifle, wounding him. Henry now has a "red badge of courage". Henry realizes that there is no rationalization for his cowardice, and that he must prove his bravery in battle. He runs forward into battle carrying the Union flag right up to the front. The Union army is victorious.
             All Quiet On The Western Front and The Re...