All Quiet on the Western Front

Why do the soldiers have such trouble listening to the wounded horses?

all my questions are in chapter 4 and if you would be so kind and have 2 quotes with explanations.Thank you!

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I don't have quotes but the soldier have such a hard time listening to the horses dying because the horses are dreadfully screaming. It is like hell ( a representation of theme war is hell ). Also one of the men was fond of horses and i believe he has some himself before the war. he cannot bare to hear the horses screaming as their are being killed against their will ( another representation and theme possibly)

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I'm doing book for a paper and want to major in english

I don't have quotes but the soldier have such a hard time listening to the horses dying because the horses are dreadfully screaming. It is like hell ( a representation of theme war is hell ). Also one of the men was fond of horses and i believe he has some himself before the war. he cannot bare to hear the horses screaming as their are being killed against their will ( another representation and theme possibly)

Source(s)

I'm doing book for a paper and want to major in english

One thing is clear: the men lose much of their humanness during war. They are de-individualized as instruments of war; the marching men are a "column--not men at all." Real animals play a significant role here, as well. Remarque contrasts the cackle of the geese--which Kat playfully promises to get at the beginning of the chapter--with the dreadful, geese-like sound of the artillery. Moreover, the wounded horses jolt the soldiers out of their desensitized states more than wounded men do. Though both soldier and horse alike are exploited in the war, at least men make the decision to enter the war, however reluctant they may be; the horses have no choice but to submit to the destruction of man.

"The cries continued. It is not men, they could not cry so terribly."

We stand up and try to see where it is. If we could only see the animals we should be able to endure it better. Müller has a pair of glasses. We see a dark group, bearers with stretchers, and larger black clumps moving about. Those are the wounded horses. But not all of them. Some gallop away in the distance, fall down, and then run on farther. The belly of one is ripped open, the guts trail out. He becomes tangled in them and falls, then he stands up again.

Detering raises up his gun and aims. Kat hits it in the air. "Are you mad--?"

Detering trembles and throws his rifle on the ground.

We sit down and hold our ears. But this appalling noise, these groans and screams penetrate, they penetrate everywhere.

We can bear almost anything. But now the sweat breaks out on us. We must get up and run no matter where, but where these cries can no longer be heard. And it is not men, only horses."

"Detering walks up and down cursing: "Like to know what harm they've done." He returns to it once again. His voice is agitated, it sounds almost dignified as he says: "I tell you it is the vilest baseness to use horses in the war."

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http://www.gradesaver.com/all-quiet-on-the-western-front/study-guide/section2/ All Quiet on the Western Front