Overall opinion of the book(:

Overall...the book was alot better then I thought it would be. For me, I learned exactly what I had hoped for. Before reading the book and learning about the war in class, i only knew that this war had changed lifes. I had no clue if it was for the better or for the worse,...obvoiusly it was for the worst. Who knew that the soldiers could possibly endure so much pain and suffering, both mentally and physically. Day in and day out, the fought in the trenches, hung around with dead bodies.. first off, that smell must be unbearable. Secondly, if i were alone with a dead body all day, i'd cry. Its just so scary with death, knowing that the man you just talked to that morning lays cold and silent beside you..eating durt and gunpowder. It breaks my heart knowing so many lives were ruined due to the selfish needs of the country rulers back then. Never should anyone have to deal with the pain of losing their identity, their freeddom, or their best friends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbggEGUaE28
I found this link to a video i found very interesting.. if you watch it, you'll see they make the war seem dissillusioned. " Make your daddy glad.." The lyrics of the song support fighting in the war and making America proud. They should be ashamed..

 Chapter 6 I find is an extremely important chapter. I'm learning that the men had to go up to the front 2 days earlier then planned, so I predict that something very intense will occur with the war. As they marched along, they passed " a shelled schoolhouse. Stacked up against its longer side is a high double wall of yellow, unpolished, brand-new coffins. They still smell of resin, and pine, and the forest. There are at least a hundred". This caused them to be even more fearful for the future of their lives, though they made jokes to distract from themselves and calm their weary souls. The quote "The front is a cage in which we must await fearfully whatever may happen" made me think that the cage could represent their freedom and individuality. The fact of if they will survive or not will be based on the enemies shots and their quickness to move away from the bullets. They had troubles with rats making attempts to steal their food as they occupy the spaces in their trenches. Rats, with their "shocking, evil, naked faces, and it is nauseating to see their long, nude tails". This quote in my opinion truely made the rats'  intrusion on the sanitary conditions of the soldiers emphasized. New recruits "turn green" and vomitt places, for everything is extremely graphic for them to handle. Constantly, bombs are being sent in their direction, causing them to need to be on constant watch, always alert. Some being to go insane with claustraphobia, others starve from the lack of food. "No soldier outlives a thousand chances. But every soldier believes in Chance and trusts his luck." Bombs land in their trenches, destroying them in a matter of seconds..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcps2fJKuAI&ob=av2n

I found this song and absolutely fell in love with it<3 The video shows real soldiers, scripted soldiers, and even has real scenes from many many years ago with past wars. In the first line, "A warning to the people. The good and the evil. This is war. To the soldier, the civillian.The martyr, the victim. This is war", it really hit me. Theres always two sides to a war. The words in the song made me think of everything that goes on, and why there's war in the first place..

In chapter 5, I read that Muller and the boys were discussing what life would be like and what they would do if the war was suddenly over. Haie of course states "then I'd grab some good buxom dame, some real kitchen wench with pleanty to get hold of, you know, and jump straight into bed. Just you think, boys, a real feather-bed with a spring mattress; I wouldn't put trousers on again for a week." Although his fantasies are in fact a little different then those around him, the room goes silent with thoughts of this amazing idea. The thing i didn't really understand is when Haie explains, " If I were a non-com. I'd stay with the Prussians and serve out my time." I couldn't fully grasp why he said this, but i got really lost when he then talked about digging peats. Since i still had NO clue what he was talking about, I was very confused on his point of view. According to sparknotes, he "finds peat-digging so unpleasant." and  "plans to serve a full term in the army after the war ends". This helped me better understand when he talked about all the positives of being in the war.

Christmas In The World War One

I was talking to my dad the other day about the World War, and he told me an interesting story. He described to me briefly that during the war, the people were basically killing people for no reason. Something we don't realize is how bloody the war truely is. For us, our christmas gift is presents, joy, family. For them, they get infected wounds and to witness their own men being shot down and sent full forced into the earth. From what he told me, soldiers hid and fought in trenches. An article I found stated that they "Soldiers on both sides were trapped in trenches, exposed to the cold and wet winter weather, covered in mud, and extremely careful of sniper shots. Machines guns had proven their worth in war, bringing new meaning to the word "slaughter." " Apparently, there was rain and horrid weather during the time, causing the trenches and earth to turn to mud, trapping many soldiers.Although all this was happening, for one night, the soldiers got in the spirit and suddenly just stopped. They acted humane, if only for a moment. I found this article very interesting and thought it related well to what we've been learning. I never really thought of the little things behind the war.. Here's the link..you should really read it. http://history1900s.about.com/od/1910s/a/christmastruce.htm