All Quiet on the Western Front Paragraph
...ssed like rag dolls into upturned graves or shell holes, so even then all that was necessary was throwing the dirt back into the newly made graves. Another example of Irony occurs in the beginning of Chapter 6; the German guns misfire and hurt the Germans. This shows irony because the reader expects the "German guns" to fire not only correctly but also somewhat accurately and injure their enemy, not themselves. Nevertheless, by far the best example of irony through the whole war novel occurs at the end of Chapter 6. Himmelstoss, the "courageous and fierce postmaster" now Drill Sergeant, becomes a coward, because he has to participate in the battle itself. From the very beginning of the novel he gives the image that he is a big this tough guy and that he is afraid of nothing, which isn't the case at all. Himmelstoss is teaching the men to be a lean mean fighting machines, w...