The fear of death is a huge fear that cannot be overcome. The element of chance plays a large part in who lives and who dies in the war. The soldiers know this and just hope they are not the next to be killed. They turn to the earth for comfort, because there is nothing else they can turn to. It offers them something that cannot be taken away from them. When the soldiers are scared they bury their face in it, when they are being shot at they hide behind it for protection. The trenches that are dug into the earth protect the soldiers from violence and act as a temporary home for them. All of the soldiers are in the same situation and can never know when or how the next person will be shot by a bullet, hit with a splinter from a bomb, or just die from disease. This is how the earth as a comforter shows us the comradery.
The earth as a character also shows fear by becoming a victim of the war and suffering with the soldiers. “The brown earth, the torn, blasted earth, with a greasy shine under the sun’s rays”(Remarque 115). Every time a bomb hits or bullets are fired at men hiding behind a hill, the earth’s pieces fly apart and it is tormented with pain. “It’s unendurable. It is the moaning of the world, it is the martyred creation, wild with anguish, filled with terror, and groaning”(Remarque 62). The earth expresses its grief through the creatures that are part of it. It tells the soldiers of its suffering, but the soldiers cannot react in ways to help the earth, for they cannot think of their actions in times when the violence is present. This is how the earth as a victim shows us comradery.
Along with the earth acting as a comforter and a victim, it shows us comradery through being a life source or a source of all things. “From the earth, from the air, sustaining forces pour into us—mostly from the earth… [It] releases him for ten seconds to live, to run, ten seconds of life”(Remarque 55). The earth gives life to the soldiers. It is the source that the energy comes from. The soldiers could not live and fight in this war without its presence. “Two of our dead lie in the upturned graves. We merely throw the earth in on them”(Remarque 73). The earth can also act as a symbol taking life away. “…But it is not only my heart pounding, I want to stop his mouth, stuff it with earth”(Remarque 216). The earth is talked about when expressing death in the time of the war. It enhances the gloom and darkness that is present in the soldier’s situation. “The earth is the background of this restless, gloomy world of automations”(Remarque 115). The gloom shows the view of the earth about the war. The character of the earth shows its disapproval and dislike of the violence of the war and the pain it is being caused through the gloomy scene it is expressing to us. This shows us the comradery through the earth being a source.
It is hard to see the true violence of the war and fear in the soldiers without the comradery in the presence of chance. As a comforter the earth becomes a friend and caregiver of the soldiers. It comforts them from the fear that they are confronted with. The earth joins their side by suffering with them when the violence is being presented. It also gives the soldiers life to persevere through the war, but in the eye of chance can symbolize the fate and taking away of life from the soldiers. This is how Remarque uses the earth as a character to show comradery with the soldiers.
