Symbols

Question 1

What are they?

Answer 1

Weapons, butterflies and nature, food, Kemmerich’s boots

Question 2

Explain the symbol of weapons

Answer 2

This war introduced new weapons, inflicting physical and psychological trauma

Question 3

Explain the symbol of butterflies and nature

Answer 3

Symbolises the fragility of war, nature can either be protecting the soldiers like a mother, or hailing them with bad weather, rats etc

Question 4

Explain the symbol of food

Answer 4

Appears often in the novel, a reminder of the need to survive, food is limited on the front

Question 5

Explain the symbol of Kemmerich’s boots

Answer 5

Passed on from one soldier to the next, represents the fleetingness of life